Kim Kardashian Apologizes for Blackface Scandal on ‘KUWTK’

Kim Kardashian addressed the accusations that she engaged in digital blackface in an ad for her beauty company in this week’s episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

The controversy first erupted in June, when Kardashian’s KKW Beauty contour and highlight line launched its first ad.

The ad photo shoot featured Kardashian looking much darker than usual, leading some to call out the reality celebrity for engaging in photo editing designed to make her look black. Her complicated relationship to the black community has crossed the line into problematic several times in the past, and many saw this as another time she messed up.

At the time, Kardashian responded to critics saying she was just “really tan,” but Sunday’s episode provided a deeper look at what she was thinking with the ad campaign and her response.

Kardashian first sees the response to the ad campaign while hanging out with assistant Stephanie Shepard.

“People are online are saying I’m doing blackface, but I would never in a million years be disrespectful and do that,” she says.

In her confessional, Kardashian defends the campaign, saying she was tan at the time of the photo shoot and they were going for a “moody” look that would show off the contouring.

She calls the internet response to her slip-up “toxic,” saying, “I feel like people are just waiting for me to make a mistake.”

Calling the Chief Digital Officer for her line, who says she should address the issue and they’ll get new, re-edited photos back up for the campaign.

“It just sucks because it wasn’t the intention,” Shepard says.

Kim says she “gets” the criticism people have, but that she doesn’t want it to distract from her beauty line launch.

“When you’re running sh-t you just have to own up to it,” she says. “I fully understood what people are saying.”

“Let’s fix it, let’s move on,” she continues.

Fans generally accepted her on-air apology.

Keeping Up with the Kardashians airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on E!