Margaret Atwood Didn’t Know Who Kylie Jenner Was Before She Threw Her BFF A Handmaid’s Tale Party

Ouch.

margaret atwood

by Bonnie McLaren |
Updated on

When Kylie Jenner and her new best friend Stassie Karanikolaou are not matching their outfits (or getting matching eye surgery{ =nofollow}), they’re making headlines. Earlier this year, as a best friend with access to a billion dollars, Kylie threw her mate a birthday party - but there was a twist, it was inspired by Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale. While the party caused controversy at the time, Atwood has now responded, even though she had to ‘look up’ who Jenner was. Ouch.

kylie jenner
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Speaking to New York Magazine, Atwood didn’t shy away from admitting that she didn’t know who the world’s youngest self-made billionaire was - and that she expects her fans responded to the controversy, anyway. ‘I had to look up who Kylie Jenner was, I'm so old,' she said. 'My readers deal with those things. They notice them before I do. I expect that Kylie Jenner heard from some of them along the lines of “We appreciate the thought, but you kind of missed it.”’

The party was controversial because the hit Hulu series - adapted from Atwood’s novel of the same name - takes place in the totalitarian state of Gilead, where women are suppressed, raped and stripped of their rights. As Atwood suspected, her readers did in fact respond, with thousands asking: why? Why on Earth, Kylie? (As one person tweeted, ‘But why is Kylie Jenner{ =nofollow}having a Handmaid’s Tale party... she does realize it’s about rape and oppression... right?’)

‘There were some themed tequila,' she continued. 'People often do this in a very well-meaning way; they're not trying to be unpleasant. It has been the occasion when I've been speaking somewhere and I will be greeted with Handmaid's Tale cupcakes because the person doing the catering is such a fan.’ She added she's 'happy to have people playing in the sandbox' of her work, but admitted that 'sometimes they get a little off, but that is to be expected.'

READ MORE: Kylie Jenner And Her Best Friend Stassie Karanikolaou Got Lasik Eye Surgery, Then Had A Party To Celebrate

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