There’s a place where no one seems to care about keeping up with the Kardashians.
Cuba.
As of late, it’s the destination du jour, with every from from President Barack Obama to Gisele Bundchen, Karl Lagerfeld and Vin Diesel. Not to mention a bunch of cruise ship passengers.
So of course the Kardashians sauntered in with Kanye West, their children, a camera crew and their entourage. They posed for selfies. They perfected their duck lips. They smoked cigars.
And Cuba couldn’t be bothered.
When Kim, Kourtney and Khloe got glammed up for a night out and bodyguards escorted them through a hotel lobby, no one appeared to pick up their phones to snap a photo. When they strutted through the cobbled streets, no one seemed to do a double take.
But, as has often been the case, where there’s a Kardashian, there’s a controversy.
When Khloe Kardashian posted a picture of herself posing under the words “Fidel” on Instagram some people called her insensitive to how the Cubans lived under the Castro regime.
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida and who is of Cuban descent, put it best: “Haven’t the Cuban people suffered enough? Fidel, Raul Castro, and now the Kardashians?”
The Florida lawmaker, who has served in the House of Representatives in 1989, slammed the Kardashians in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
“I know it might be a high bar to ask famous folks to draw attention to human rights abuses by the Castro regime … but playing a role in making Cuba a fun, no-worries destination is nothing but a cruel trick on the Cuban people,” she told the newspaper.
She added, “The Kardashians are taking lots of selfies in Havana, but are they taking stock of the reality on the streets they walk on?”