The XX Factor

The Kim Kardashian Robbery Costume Is Offensive—and a Failure of a Joke

The “Parisian Heist Robbery Victim” costume from fine retailor Costumeish.

Costumeish.com

Costumeish, the company that previously brought us such fun Halloween getups as the “Sexy Ebola Costume” and the “Lion Killer Dentist Costume,” has outdone itself: This year, Costumeish invites you to dress as a bound and gagged Kim Kardashian.

You probably heard that Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in Paris this month. But perhaps it didn’t occur to you to think of a way to capitalize on this violent crime through your shady online costume venture? Well, that’s what separates you from the pros at Costumeish, where the website menu boasts an entire section of costumes under the heading “Hot Takes.”

The robbery incident happened in early October—perhaps for other, lesser online costume purveyors this wouldn’t provide enough time to get a poorly conceived and clearly offensive costume out the door. Costumeish, though, was able to sink to the challenge. The so-called Parisian Heist Robbery Victim costume, which retails for $69.99, includes a short “sexy” robe, a long black wig, a fake $4 million ring, large sunglasses, a fake gag, and rope. (Putting aside all that’s conceptually gross about it, that price tag is absurd! Surely you could round up all the elements of this “costume” for less.)

It seems like we need to have the offensive Halloween costume conversation every year, so here we go again: Wearing a costume that makes light of a real act of violence is not cool! What’s more, it’s not even funny. As Ben Mathis-Lilley pointed out earlier this month in a critique of the New Yorker’s recent efforts in topical comedy, with “jokes” like these, “their primary effect is not to make you laugh, it’s to remind you that you’ve heard of a thing.” So yes, we’ve all heard about Kim Kardashian getting robbed, it is a thing that happened. That does not mean wearing a costume that depicts it happening is automatically funny.

Criticism for Parisian Heist Robbery Victim costume has been widespread, so it’s no surprise that the geniuses at Costumeish have made it hard to find and may have even removed it altogether from the site. Even so, the company has secured its reputation as the No. 1 grossest costumer on the web for another year. Way to go!