Formerly a decluttering expert, Marie Kondo has admitted that she’s “sort of given up” on tidying, which has prompted a surprisingly strong response online.
The previous star of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix has told the Washington Post that she’s accepting mess in her own residence now that she’s given birth to her third child.
Kondo became a cultural icon when her Netflix show dropped in 2019, which seemingly inspired thousands and thousands of viewers to tidy too, having asked themselves what “sparked joy” in their very own lives.
Now that Kondo doesn’t appear to have tidying as a priority, a debate surrounding racism is raging online.
Kit Karzen / JC Oliviera/Netflix / WireImage
The argument stemmed when people seemingly began criticizing Kondo for giving up on her previously spouted tidying methods. Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley had a joke lost in translation, which eventually went viral.
“She admits she has ‘sort of given up’ on tidying after three kids,” the Oscar-nominated author of Women Talking said.
“Where is the official apology to those of us who she influenced to make our clothes into little envelopes while we HAD three kids!” Polley’s tweet has since been deleted, and she or he has confirmed that it was a joke, nevertheless it was picked up and browse with sincerity by many online.
“Unhinged behavior,” wrote creator Cora Harrington on Sunday, which made the tweet go much more viral. “Nothing people hate more on this app than POC being like, ‘Buy less… perhaps?'” She added.
Twitter user @PaulSkallas, aka LindyMan, suggested Kondo’s plan was to “money in on the libs and exit.”
“Lol … in any case that joy sparking she realized children and never decluttering spark joy,” wrote @EditingWiz1 in response to the news regarding Kondo.
The controversy raged on Reddit too as user @chr15c said: “Marie Kondo preached about her militant approach to decluttering, only to appreciate what she was preaching is inconceivable with a family.”
There appeared to be way more people online defending Kondo’s decision, and asking openly why white people appeared to have an issue along with her decision.
“Why do people hate Marie Kondo a lot? Is it misogyny? Racism? Each?” Twitter user @ERnurse86 wrote. “I swear she doesn’t hassle anyone but folks are at all times on her ass about something and it’s weird.”
“I feel the degrees of hate Marie Kondo gets from some quarters is because an [East] Asian woman. Racism permeates EVERYTHING,” Twitter user @hyfreelance wrote.
Author Shiv Ramdas also shared his confusion on the perceived backlash against Kondo. “Marie Kondo gotta be probably the most unlikely polarizing figure of my lifetime, all that lady said was eliminate [stuff] you are not pleased with and I swear the media on this country has spent half a decade trying to seek out recent gotchas to throw at her every week, it’s beyond bizarre,” he wrote.
Writer Kosoko Jackson also used Polley’s attempt at humor to drive home their point.
“I hate how white people will do gleefully go for a lady of color. She didn’t make you do anything,” he wrote and added, “Lemme stop before I get banned.”
Kondo appears to have taken a step back from projects recently, as her latest English-language show was 2021’s Sparking Joy with Marie Kondo on Netflix. Nonetheless, she commonly posts on Instagram, and as recently as Friday wrote about tidying again.
“When tackling a recent tidying project, I begin by envisioning my ideal lifestyle. How do you motivate yourself before practicing organization as self care?” she wrote to her 4.1 million followers.
She also posts occasional videos to her YouTube channel, the most recent being published on December 11, 2022.
