Some fans are saying so after an appearance by Kim Kardashian.
NPR's ombudsman Elizabeth Jensen wrote that
several listeners complained that they were "disgusted" and
"disappointed" after the reality star's recent appearance on the popular
radio program.
Kardashian was there to
promote her published book of selfies as part of the show's "Not My
Job" segment. She answered questions and played along with the fact that
some find her book, "Selfish," to be pretty ridiculous.
"It's riveting, I know," she said of the 445-page book of selfies.
But
at least one listener complained that Mrs. Kanye West "has no business
in any civilized forum," and Jensen said, "The listeners are self-aware
and unapologetic about their outrage."
"I have enjoyed your show for years, but I found the inclusion of Kim
Kardashian so misguided and offensive, I fear I will never be able to
listen again (hyperbolic, yes, but vapid, talentless, and shallow
individuals who have not earned fame or fortune through an ounce of hard
work have no place on a show of such caliber)," Jensen said she was
told in an email from Brianna Frazier of Laguna Beach, California.
Slate's Mike Pesca was the guest host of that edition of "Wait, Wait" and interviewed Kardashian. In a story he wrote headlined "I Interviewed Kim Kardashian for NPR, and Listeners Revolted. Here's Why They're Wrong," Pesca said he "thought it was a good booking."
"When
I heard about it I said 'great,' because she has a persona that's
well-known, she's ripe fodder for good comedy, and she issued a book of
selfies, which is fun to talk about, and as a guest she didn't seem
particularly shy or retiring," he wrote. "But really, how do you ever
retire when your job is just being alive?"
The
issue, as he saw it, is that "There is a type of NPR listener -- and
it's a type of media consumer, it goes way beyond NPR -- that defines
themselves by what they are not."
"To
some extent, we all do this," Pesca wrote. "The bands we like, the foods
we don't eat. But with them, it's a much huger deal. They're
closed-minded, they use affiliation with NPR or Fox or Christian
Broadcasting not to experience a larger outside world but to
congratulate themselves on the purity of their own world."
Pesca
offered a bit of a tongue-in-cheek apology to those listeners who were
offended and said, "I'm sure that the show will return to its normal
high standards."
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