There are some thoughts that maybe Kelly Ripa should keep to her family, if not herself.
While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kelly described her son, Michael, as "chronically poor" — among other things. And while she was joking, the comments did not sit right with many people.
She was there to talk about the annual Halloween show that she does on Live with Kelly & Ryan.
However, the conversation naturally turned to her kids, and she decided to share a few anecdotes about their lives.
Michael Consuelos is in college, and he's living in New York City like a real adult!
According to Kelly, he lives in Bushwick, located in Brooklyn. So, uh, now y'all know where to find him, I guess.
Note to my mom: Never tell people the neighborhood I live in. Thanks.
"My parents, for years, would give my kids for Halloween, they give them each — they mail them an envelope with $20 in it," Kelly said.
A Halloween present? Can that be a thing now?
Actually, scratch that, I just remembered trick-or-treating is a thing. Can we make presents a tradition for adults?
"And for years, I’m like, 'Mom, dad, you don’t have to do that. They don’t appreciate it. Don’t worry about it.'"
Uh, quick question: Who doesn't appreciate free money? I guess kids of celebrities. My bad.
"And for years, my kids sort of ignored the $20. Mark and I would say, 'You know, when we were kids, $20, that would take you through weeks and weeks of life.' You know what I mean?"
"Especially for Halloween. Who gets money on Halloween?"
I mean, full disclosure, my grandparents would sometimes do that. But still! It's a totally fair question!
Kelly also agreed with him. "Hundred percent!"
"But now that he’s living on his own, he’s called like three times. ‘Has the Halloween envelope arrived?'"
The worst thing about being an adult is understanding how crucial $20 is, but how short a way it goes.
"'Cause he needs to like, take the subway, get his Halloween envelope. Just so he can have electricity.
"He’s experiencing being an adult."
So, how would she describe what being an adult who waits for Halloween money is like?
"I think he loves the freedom. He hates paying his own rent, and he is chronically poor."
I mean...can you be chronically poor while having rich and successful parents? No really, I'm asking.
"I don’t think he ever really experienced extreme poverty, like now."
Extreme poverty! A kid whose grandparents mail him Halloween money, whose parents are celebrities, and who lives in Brooklyn? Sure! For sure he is.
But they did bring jokes for days at her expense.
Some claimed that she was just joking, which...is true. That was the point of the story! To entertain! That's kind of her whole job.
So many people were over it. Memes were made, gifs used, reaction images deployed for the mocking.
I mean, I can't exactly blame people. It's hard not to think Kelly is out of touch when her "jokes" are that unfunny.
Okay, the amount of use I get out of that Lucille Bluth gif is almost sad.
Extreme poverty? More like a young millennial with wealthy parents experiencing working for his money for the first time!
Like this scalding hot tea from an apparent old acquaintance of Kelly's:
"[...] welllll I don't know about her husband but I knew her and where she grew up back in the day and she was faaaarrrrrr from unprivileged!," Shannon wrote.
"[...] she never EVER wanted for anything growing up! Maybe compared to her kids childhood she wasn't as privileged but compared to myself and a large portion of Americans she had it really good!"
OOP!
For instance, because I am a millennial living in the year 2019, I have [checks notes] four jobs now.
We all have to work to make sure we don't actually end up in extreme poverty. And it wouldn't hurt to help those who are in it.
Now, I wouldn't pop off this hard, but since someone else did...may as well include it.
I will say that "snob" does describe this encounter. At least it does in my opinion.
A general search for Kelly Ripa's name yielded this Tweet of pure gold. It's succinct, it's amazing, and it came from a nice lady named Denise.
Yeah, that's just my way of saying I love this Tweet.
It may have been a joke, and yeah! People may have been overreacting.
But we live in a world where poverty is a very real, very dire problem, and making light of that while having a fat bank account feels pretty tactless.
This discussion on Twitter perfectly summed up the situation. Sure, Kelly was making a joke, but that "joke" is a reality for over 39.7 million Americans.
Poverty is something people deal with day after day. It's not a joke. It's real.
A fan wanted to know her thoughts on the backlash.
Honestly, these questions are pretty...brave to just outright ask, but Kelly liked them enough to respond to them. I guess Darci asked the right ones.
So wild to call her fans who have contributed real feelings, experiences with poverty, and facts "fools." That's as brazen as Darci's questions!
Good for you for stickin' up for yourself, Kelly. I guess this issue really bothered her! If only the issue of poverty for real people also bothered her, huh?
She chats about Michael (obviously), Live With Kelly and Ryan, as well as how her other children are handling college life.
Check it out and see for yourself how you feel about her comments!
