Kylie Jenner loses about 1 million followers after post supporting Israel

The influencer’s Instagram went from 400 to 399 million

Kylie Jenner at the 2023 Met Gala. Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld

By PJ Grisar October 10, 2023

Over the weekend, Kylie Jenner shared an image of the Israeli flag with the text “Now and always we stand with the people of Israel” from the group StandWithUs. She deleted it after backlash, and appears to have lost as many as a million followers, going from 400 million followers to 399 million.

Jenner, whose mother Kris also shared the StandWithUs post, currently has a selfie from six days ago as her most recent post. Commenters have been sharing gifs of a waving Palestinian flag under it.

The youngest of the Kardashian Jenner clan, Kylie is not often political, mostly sticking to support for movements like Black Lives Matter and, in 2020, a get-out-the-vote bikini thirst trap.

The uproar over her simple sharing of a post, and the subsequent hemorrhaging of followers, may prove a bellwether as to how the ongoing war is perceived on social media platforms, and how vocal celebrities are willing to be.

Jenner weighed in on the Jews this time last year, when she posted “I support my Jewish friends and the Jewish people.” The post appeared to be in response to her sister Kim Kardashian’s ex, Ye, who had threatened to go “death con 3 on the JEWISH PEOPLE” earlier that month.

PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.

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