14 DAY TRIAL // Kim Kardashian is making money hand over fist, what with her reality show, paid appearances, endorsement deals and, last but not least, her own fashion line and her newest endeavor, a mobile game. A new report indicates that she also makes money from charity, i.e. when she claims to do stuff that raises money for charity.
Last October, Kim launched yet another one of her famous eBay auctions, which she promotes all over social media, urging her millions of fans to buy her used clothes, shoes, and accessories because this is the best way to help others in need, as the proceeds go to a charitable organization.
After some digging, celebrity pundits uncovered that, while touted as a charity effort, the auction wasn’t quite as charitable (or Kim as generous) as it seemed because only 10% of the proceeds went to a good cause.
The announcement did say that a “portion” of the money would go to charity, but perhaps not even her loyal fans imagined it would be this little as 10%. The rest went straight into Kim’s pocket and Radar Online has seen documents that indicate just how much is that “rest.”
Think something to the tune of $400,000 (€301,108). Not bad for a year’s “work,” is it?
When she was confronted with this last year, Kim explained by saying that “When the eBay numbers get broken down, the auction management agency that posts for me gets a percentage for all their hard work, then, eBay listing fees, end of auction fees, eBay Store fees, Paypal fees, etc, all add up to about half the sale. Then I give 10% to charity.”
Radar did the math: if Kim pocketed $400,000 (€301,108) last year from charity, that means that her auctions generated revenue of almost $890,000 (€669,966), while the actual amount she donated for a good cause is no bigger than $44,000 (€33,103).
But there’s another, even bigger catch: those 10% went to the Life Change Community Church, which Radar describes as “a ministry founded and supported by her mom, Kris Jenner.” Kris too donates a share of her earnings to this church, but there’s a lot of talk online about how it’s only a front meant to help them avoid paying taxes.
Just because she’s a celebrity doesn’t mean that Kim Kardashian is somehow obligated to donate to charity, though celebrities being today’s role models means that whatever they do is an example others follow, be it good or bad.
So the issue here is not whether Kim should or not donate a cut of the money she makes. However, if you brag about doing something for charity and you’re intentionally misleading people just so you can make even more money, that’s just vile.
And this is what Kim is doing when she’s touting her eBay auctions on social media. People would buy her stuff even if she didn’t claim she was doing it for “charity.”