Kim Kardashian unveiled her new partnership with Beyond Meat last week, serving as the company’s “Chief Taste Consultant.” But after becoming the butt of online criticism, no pun intended, the Skims co-founder was forced to prove that she actually sampled the food in the ad campaign.
“I believe so much in the mission of Beyond Meat that I’ve stepped in to help with my greatest asset: My taste,” Kardashian said in the 30-second YouTube spot.
“This plant-based meat is not only amazingly delicious, but it’s also better for you and better for the planet,” she continued. “It’s a simple change that makes a really big difference. And now that I’m Beyond Meat’s chief taste consultant, there’s never been a better time to go beyond.”
However, it wasn’t lost on some people that while Kardashian can be seen chewing in the video, you never actually see her take a bite of anything. And unfortunately, the campaign landed on the heels of backlash that the 41-year-old had undergone a dramatic diet to fit into the Marilyn Monroe dress she wore to the Met Gala last month.
“It’s so nice she won’t even take a bite!” reads the top comment on the YouTube video, while the second asks: “How bad could it be that Kim doesn’t even want to bite the burger?” Another user called it “the most stage performance of eating I’ve ever seen.”
So to prove that Kardashian really did eat the various plant-based burgers, sausages, and chicken tenders she questionably appeared to be eating in the ad, on Tuesday Beyond Meat released an outtakes reel, which the reality star also posted to her Instagram Stories.
Though she admittedly is seen “getting rid of some of the carbs” by removing the top bun of the burger, she does indeed bite into it — as she does with the rest of the dishes she had appeared to sample in the ad.
But you can hardly blame fans for putting on their tinfoil hats when it comes to Kardashian, as she is known for manipulating reality into her highly curated favor. Just recently, she admitted to editing photos of her daughter Chicago and her sister Khloé’s daughter True at Disneyland, by swapping True’s face over the face of her other niece Stormi — all for the sake of her grid aesthetic.
So on the scale of literally Photoshopping one niece’s face over another niece’s face, “pretending to chew” would have hardly been an implausible scenario.