The NY Times apologizes for comparing an enslaved Black woman to Kim Kardashian
On Tuesday, the New York Times faced intense backlash after one of its writers called Saartjie (or Sarah) Baartman — an enslaved woman from 19th-century South Africa who's known for her exaggerated bottom — a "Kim Kardashian of another era."
The article itself also draws the Kardashian comparison.
"Attention, please, those of you whose greatest ambition is to acquire the traffic-stopping body of Kim Kardashian," theater critic Ben Brantley began. "There is a less drastic alternative to costly and dangerous buttocks implants."
Readers immediately took offense to Brantley's disturbing comparison.
Baartman — also known as the Hottentot Venus — was forced to perform in freak shows in Europe during the 1800s. Her body's proportions were ridiculed by onlookers, and she eventually died in poverty.
After Baartman died, her remains were put on display for public viewing up until the 1970s.