Kendall and Kylie Jenner called out for cultural appropriation (again)

It seems quite impossible for a week to go past without  one or other of the Jenner/Kardashian clan causing a backlash, whether it's appearing in a tone-deaf ad, wearing a tone-deaf hairstyle or superimposing their faces over iconic music legends on a range of pricey T-shirts in a supremely tone-deaf fashion.

This time the backlash centres on Kendall and Kylie Jenner, the youngest in the dynasty/brand, for raising the ire of the internet with their (now pulled) range of "vintage" T-shirts that feature selfies of themselves overlaid onto images of iconic musicians, including the Notorious BIG, Tupac, Pink Floyd and Ozzy Osbourne.

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As you might expect, the reaction was not good.

Not least because, guys, you can't call a new T-shirt "vintage", especially when it costs $US125 ($162) a pop.

The range was labelled "disrespectful" and "disgusting" by Voletta Wallace, the Notorious BIG's mother, on Instagram. Meanwhile, a lawyer for the late rapper's estate has threatened the Jenner sisters with legal action.

"This is misappropriation at its finest," Julian K. Petty told TMZ. "I'm curious to hear the justification. I'm even more curious to hear the proposed resolution."

And Ms Wallace is right, it is disrespectful. And also, it's a seriously ugly T-shirt that ultimately says nothing. Rather than pay homage to an iconic musician it's a homage to teenage reality TV stars who highly likely don't even know any of his songs. Which is, incidentally, the ultimate crime when it comes to wearing a "vintage" band tee.

Sharon Osbourne, the wife of rocker Ozzy, was equally unimpressed.

"Girls, you haven't earned the right to put your face with musical icons. Stick to what you know … lip gloss," she tweeted.

Which opens up an interesting discussion: Who does have the right? True fans? Nobody? Musical icons only?

Whatever the case, it's another example of cultural appropriation by people who should know better. The Jenners' whole family is a brand, they live their entire lives in the public eye. Their actions have consequences. 

As the then 17-year-old Hunger Games actor Amandla Stenberg wrote when Kylie Jenner got into strife for wearing cornrows, a black hairstyle, in 2015: "When u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter."

Why did the Jenner sisters put their faces on not just musical icons, but iconic black musicians? What purpose did it serve? Other than selling a fugly T-shirt, it's hard to say. 

The Jenners have since removed the T-shirt and apologised. Kendall Jenner tweeted: "These designs were not well thought out and we deeply apologise to anyone that has been upset and/or offended, especially to the families of the artists.

"We are huge fans of their music and it was not our intention to disrespect these cultural icons in any way. The tee shirts have been pulled from retail and all images have been removed. We will use this as an opportunity to learn from these mistakes and again, we are very sorry."