Shortly after the Met Gala, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Khloe and Kourtney headed down to Cuba for their first-ever trip to the now American-tourist-friendly island. While there was widespread reporting about their trip, there was a strange lull on their social media pages (except for Khloe’s, oddly). Kim wasn’t posting anything on Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat during the trip, which is SO unlike her. As it turns out, the Cuban government still has a really tight stranglehold on internet service, so even though the girls were taking lots of photos on their phones, they couldn’t post jack sh-t. And that’s probably why their big Cuba trip only lasted a few days.
Everything that President Obama did to repair relations with Cuba is being undone by the visiting Kardashians. The preening, selfie-obsessed reality stars are having a tough time dealing with Cuba’s spotty internet connections.
“They love the culture, but they don’t like the technology,” says a source. “They’ve had an issue every two seconds about not having internet. They complained they couldn’t get on Snapchat. They’re frustrated and they can’t wait to leave.”
Being cut off may be a good thing. Khloé, who is there with Kim, Kanye West, North West and Kourtney, managed to post an image of herself under a wall inscribed for dictator Fidel Castro, angering some.
“They weren’t culturally prepared for Cuba,” says the source. We’re told their show’s had issues getting locals to sign release forms, because nobody knows who they are.
“They don’t have reality TV in Cuba — the Kardashians aren’t a big deal,” our spy smirked. “They are like, ‘Who are you, why are you filming?’ ”
Kim’s rep said, “If there are any issues, they are production issues. The ladies don’t have any issues and are having a great time. They knew there wouldn’t be internet service before they came.”
They brought the E! film crew too? Ridiculous. I mean, it would be one thing if they just took the trip to Cuba to go sightseeing, but the fact that they were filming the reality show there is just… ugh. And of course the Cuban people would have no idea who they are! I doubt that bothered the Kardashians that much, but I bet they were upset with the lack of internet connection.
Kim tried to push back on this story by posting this to Twitter once their whirlwind trip was over:
Being away and living in the moment having no phone service was so amazing!
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) May 7, 2016
This reminds me of those stories about how much Kim hated her honeymoon in Ireland – she wanted to spend her honeymoon some place sunny and pap-friendly, some place with a good shopping district. She allegedly hated every minute of having to spend time in a rainy little town with no good malls. I imagine that’s how she felt in Cuba too – where were the luxury accommodations and the malls? Why didn’t anyone in Cuba understand that Kim Kardashian is a “celebrity”??
I love Cuba! One of our best trips! We felt like we stepped back into a different time period.Can't wait to go back. pic.twitter.com/BKGaMtPlJk
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) May 7, 2016
Havana 🇨🇺 pic.twitter.com/HtxN3zzUac
— Khloé (@khloekardashian) May 5, 2016
Photos courtesy of Twitter, Fame/Flynet.
I don’t think “allegedly” is necessary in this case. I’m pretty sure she was dying not being able to google herself, take selfies and post them. But of course she was upset because she uses Instagram and Twitter for feminism and to fight sexism. Totally.
Seriously. How is she supposed to empower women when she can’t take nude selfies because no internetz?
I know! We didn’t get to see her naked in her Cuban bathroom! Khloe looks absolutely gorgeous in that Fidel photo, however.
@kitten lmao that made me chuckle
These clowns got to take a trip to Cuba. *sigh*
So much significance lost on the stupid.
My thoughts precisely…
+1000
I find it so insulting on behalf of Cuban people to have the Kardashians on Cuban soil after all they’ve been through.
After the embargo, the dictatorship, the ban of american people as a rule what do Cuban people get as one of the ‘first’ Americans to visit their country?
The clueless, uneducated, crass, ignorant Kardashians covered in jewels and tacky clothes and makeup who don’t even realise how big of a step is to go to Cuba legally as American citizens.
Paolanqar,
Very well said. Every bit of it. I hate that these vapid idiots are de facto representatives of American culture vis a vis their trashy program -sponsored visit. Blech. I would like to see so much less of them here on CB.
Agreed. Absolutely horrendous to have this vapid family in Cuba right after the historical movements that were just made.
+100000
“They don’t have reality TV in Cuba — the Kardashians aren’t a big deal,”
sign me up. I’m movin to Cuba!
Of Course these twatwaffles would go somewhere Like Cuba with zero prep or understanding of where they are going and then proceed to whine about to being able to give us their titty selfies in an expeditious manner (probably in that Robot Baby nasal whine of theirs).
QQ – You know what their real problem is? Once in Cuba, these pumped and plasticized wannabes saw that the island is full of women with natural beauty, curvaceous bodies and God-given butts that no amount of fake blubber can ever achieve.
The locals where all “Bye Felicia”
twatwaffles *chuckles*
robot baby titty selfies needs to become a thing
Twat waffles. ..lol. awesome.
Would well believe it, they honeymooned here in Ireland and apparently she was keen to leave because she was bored.
No getting to see the local area, learn about it, visit places of interest…nope she was bored, probably because nobody gave a shit or was paying her enough attention.
I remember the stories of them in Ireland, apparently they went to go see two movies back to back. Who the hell wastes time at a movie theatre when they are in a beautiful scenic country like Ireland!!!
Kim lives for social media. She ceases to exist without it. But she was probably really bothered by the fact that nobody paid special attention to them, being wonderfully oblivious to the Kardashian Empire. I’m sure she hoped to use the kids as props in a steady stream of pics. Now she was stuck actually interacting with them without being able to instantly post all the mommy-rugrat bonding photos. Will have to wait for the show to get the PR benefit.
People from other countries, including Canada, have been happily vacationing in Cuba for many years. Americans were always welcome. It was the US government that restricted travel and engaged in various silly delaying tactics to discourage people from traveling there even for professional reasons. I helped a friend when she was organizing study trips to see the Cuban healthcare system (which has many good things to recommend it), with the ulterior motive of trying to get Americans to make up their own minds about Cuba rather than just believing all the deadly propaganda. The Cuban government was definitely not the problem getting the people there and once there, they could freely talk with people. Remember that Fidel Castro wanted to normalize relations with the US right away. A more pragmatic approach to changes in governments would have spared the Cubans who stayed and those who left a lot of problems and avoided any separation of families.
Agreed. Kim seems to have no interests or life outside of posting things online. Of course she’d hate places with poor internet and no high end shopping. If you can’t post pictures of yourself online or at least go shopping for your latest deeply unflattering outfit, what else is there to do?
I’ve got Canadian family and they have been to Cuba quite a bit. It was/is a favorite honeymoon and tropical holiday destination for many Canadians. I remember talking about it and my family were like “what, you can’t go? But why not? It’s perfectly fine there!”
But, DM has an article on Kim’s shoot for Vogue – Australia (I believe) that says she would have been a forensic investigator if she hadn’t become famous. (eye roll now!)
Does she know that you have to study for a degree to be a forensic investigator? In her mind she probably thinks it’s the same as being Nev from the TV show Catfish
Bless her THIRSTY heart….
ah, thank you for that little bit of historical accuracy.
now, shut down gitmo…and end the damned blockade.
🙂
Cuban healthcare system? Clearly your friend was being taken to the ‘special’ hospitals, and not the ones where you need to bring your own sheets, food, and sometimes needles.
“trying to get Americans to make up their own minds about Cuba rather than just believing all the deadly propaganda.”
Americans given accurate information to formulate their own opinions. Now that would be something.
Totallybiased: the Cuban health care system actually was extensively revised some years ago to a more neighborhood- based system, with considerable input from regular citizens who had been dissatisfied with the more centralized version. They had a very interesting approach. My friend organizing the trips was a nurse herself, she knew what she was looking at.
I think they brought their own paparazzis too or they tipped them off. I saw a video of them there surrounded by paps.
Was most likely all the E! paps.
Probably casted some “fans” to greet them as well
The Kardashian family are big on instant gratification. Not Kris though ( in the early days.)
She made Robert wait. Yeah sure, he had lots of money, but she wasn’t really in love with him. She made him wait to give her time to see if she could do better.
From the moment I heard they were going to Cuba, I just couldn’t WAIT to see the results. Here they are thinking it’s another tropical destination, that they’re going to be the first of people there and they’re very elite and special. But surprise surprise!! They didn’t realize that not only is the country really underdeveloped when it comes to technology, but it is also communist, meaning no advertisements or reality shows or anything, which effectively means the kardashians don’t exist there. I’m also sure that the hotel accommodations were nothing like the luxury they may have been expecting. If they ever wondered what it would be like to go somewhere and not get recognized, Cuba was the right place to go.
I love imagining how they must have reacted stepping off the plane expecting the paparazzi flashes and seeing NOTHING, because finally, there is a society that doesn’t care about the kardashians.
Question, I think I now the answer but I need confirmation, does Cuba have paparazzi ? I’d assume that they don’t and that the pap pictures were from their own personal photographers, but you never know. Especially when you look at the photos the paps have taken and posted online compared to the ones that haven’t been photoshopped.
I’m saying this because I come from an island myself, and all those pictures of the Klan in St Barths by the “paparazzi” are pure BS. I’ve seen and met a few celebs who have visited my island, Anguilla and St Barths (which are right next to each other) and there was no paps in sight, if anything, there was just a bunch of “regular people” taking pictures on their phones.
In general, when you see photos like that of a celebrity at some exotic destination, someone was tipped off ahead of time and a photographer was sent. It’s not like there’s local paparazzi in Anguilla.
Helping tourism is the only positive of the Kardashians in Cuba. They have sheep following that buy and wear whatever they say. Some of their fans could go to Cuba helping the economy. I could be giving them too much credit.
I’m pretty confident in saying that the fans that love the Ks and Js are not very likely to take a trip to Cuba and it would be for the same exact reasons Kim didn’t like it. So I would Imagine this little trip won’t do much for local tourism.
I’d love to see their faces when the Cuban people weren’t paying attention to them!
Internet in Cuba is not that bad at least in La Habana and Santiago (I’ve had it worse in other places), but I can see why people from the US would find it terrible. Cuba is such a beautiful place I would recommend that trip to anyone.
I’m going to Cuba next month! I am so excited. It’s a place I have been want to visit for a long time!
I’m sure you will enjoy it! In one side of the island you’ll find most of the historical cities, La Habana, Santa Clara, etc., on the south side there are more eco-friendly activities and other beautiful cities like Santiago, and as Cuba is in the Caribbean the beaches are simply awesome. I hope you have a great time there!
1. Of course the E crew was there.. Who do you think pays for their “vacations”?
2. I’m sure they hired some “fake paps” and “fake fans” in Cuba to yell and scream and go crazy for them so it will look good on the show.
3. This family does everything for attention. Why fly allll the way to Cuba just for a few days? Do you really need instagram and twitter THAT bad?
Nooooooo! I hate the idea of the Kardashion brand soiling Cuba! Ugh!
This article is highly dubious. The Internet in the posh hotels in Havana (and I think we can take it as a given they weren’t staying in a pensione) is perfectly fine. Ive popped in to the lobbies to check out mail/social media when Ive been there. Also Cubans aren’t THAT cut off from the world, while Kardashian recognition would be lower than in many places they won’t (sadly for Cubans) be unknown. They will also be far from Cuba’s first exposure to American tourists. The first time I went I was surprised at the number of Americans there and it has increased markedly the second time (nearly a year before the Obama’s trip). Finally no-one gets offended at people posing by the tourist sites or political memorials/statues/murals that is nonsense.
Agree with this 100%
When I went there in 2014 I stayed at a decent hotel and an hour of internet was $7 and you could access anything, I’m sure they could’ve afforded and utilised that considering they probably stayed at the Hilton.
I met some guys my age there (18-20) and they said they use some sort of digital box or something to pirate shows and movies the Cuban government blocks (forgot the name, almost positive it starts with a C) and my tour guide who was in her late 30s knew all the latest films and shows I talked to her about – safe to say people of all ages there know who the Kardashians are. They’re definitely not cut off from the world.
++ Cuba’s filled with Canadian tourists, I remember the locals being surprised that Americans were there, but they’re used to having us around.
Article is bs
That being said I’m not defending them as I don’t think their vapid brains could understand the significance of their trip and they should never have gone at all. It’s appalling that the first wave of tourists to get to go there were a bunch of mindless celebrities. I doubt they even knew who Fidel is, let alone Che lol.
Final thought, the reestablishment of relations is going to ruin Cuba’s preserved state for generations to come – sad to see ):
I am NOT defending these imbeciles but I will say that Cuba was a culture shock for me and I’ve travelled all over, stayed in jungles, rainforests etc..
Even in nice hotels phone signal, getting online, even using cash machines sometimes is hard. Not everyone speaks English. If you’re expecting that then fine but when you take such things for granted and find yourself in that situation it’s strangely disorientating.
For me I embraced it and found positives in really feeling away from it all and could throw myself head first into the culture! and become truly awesome at salsa dancing with cute locals I will add. I did have a day or so of adjusting though.
Also – the online stuff is basically their “careers” as we all know! They milk their lives for business so a holiday isn’t really a holiday is it, its a self promotion.. I’m guessing they were unexpectedly not able to “work” anywhere near as much for a few days.
Chanel just did a Cruise show there. Maybe she should have coincided it with that. Giselle was there. Odd that uncle Karl didn’t invite her