Khloé Kardashian Defends Kim Kardshian’s Elaborate Pandemic Birthday Trip

When regular people feel like they want to “pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time,” that probably means going for a nice long walk, treating yourself to a comforting bowl of mac and cheese, or re-watching Sex And The City for the millionth time. But for the Kardashians, who are not of this world, that means jetting off to a private island. 

When Kim Kardashian posted about her mid-pandemic 40th birthday party extravaganza, it received both criticism for being so wildly tone deaf as well as the meme treatment. Khloé Kardashian, however, defended her older sister during a recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“I haven’t heard a lot about it, but I did hear that people were upset that we all went out of town [but] I don’t really know the extent of it, but this year is a frustrating year,” Khloé said. “I get it. I think there’s so many frustrations going on for everybody, but also, it’s her 40th. This is something she really wanted to do for us… it was such a nice thing.”

She added that she, along with the 20-25 or so other guests present (all of the Kardashians came except Kylie, who had to work), felt "so safe" and deftly spun the narrative to make their getaway sound almost philanthropic. She emphasized "the tourist aspect of it," aka that they contributed financially to the economy of whatever island they were on.

"So many people said that we were their first party or guests that they’ve had in months and what it’s done for them to be able to pay their bills or do stuff for their family," she said. "Just hearing those messages when we were there, we felt really good, dnd we did it in the safest way I could imagine someone doing it. It was such a beautiful experience and I want Kim to focus on how beautiful it was and what she did for everybody. I don’t want that to overshadow the greatness that happened.”

In Kim's original birthday post, she shared glamorous pictures of her family and close friends on the beach.

“After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time,” she wrote on Twitter. “We danced, rode bikes, swam near whales, kayaked, watched a movie on the beach and so much more. I realize that for most people, this is something that is so far out of reach right now, so in moments like these, I am humbly reminded of how privileged my life is. #thisis40”

Well, if this election goes sideways in a few days, Kim now has no choice but to take us all with her to wherever this is.