Kendall Jenner's protest Pepsi spot prompts online backlash

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2016 file photo, model Kendall Jenner attends the world premiere of "Zoolander 2" in New York. Jenner says she just a `big kid’ at heart and misses childhood times with her little sister Kylie, when they would head outdoors and play in the dirt. Taking me time for the busy Jenner can mean going poolside or hopping on a motorbike, but it usually involves putting down her phone and trying to live in the moment.
Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File

NEW YORK — Model and Kardashian clan member Kendall Jenner's turn as a Pepsi-wielding protester has some on social media decrying the imagery as appropriation of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The "Live for Now Moments" video released Tuesday has Jenner in a platinum wig on a photo shoot when protesters amble by. She rips off her wig, smears away her lipstick and joins them, eventually handing an officer on the demonstration line a can of Pepsi. He gulps some down, and then grins as Jenner dances off.

Reaction on social media ranged from some saying the imagery was tone deaf, to it evoking a widely circulated photo of Black Lives Matter protester Leshia Evans last year in Louisiana. Evans was detained when she approached police at a demonstration in Baton Rouge.

Show comments