Kim Kardashian Shared Photos Of Her And Tristan Thompson Visiting A Juvenile Detention Camp And Fans Are Convinced It’s A “Redemption Tour” To “Rehabilitate” His Image After The Paternity Scandal
“The Trashcan PR makeover campaign phase 2 is being implemented.”
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by Ellen DurneyBuzzFeed News Staff
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Kardashian fans think that Tristan Thompson’s third “redemption tour” could be underway.
Joseph Okpako / WireImage
In celebration of the holidays, Kim Kardashian shared photographs of herself and Tristan enjoying a Friendsgiving meal with a group of young men incarcerated at Camp Kilpatrick.
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Instagram: @kimkardashian
Posting a series of snaps on Instagram and Twitter, Kim shared a few words about their festive visit and wished her followers a happy Thanksgiving.
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“These young men have earned their way to this model camp in Malibu for great behavior,” Kim wrote. “Many are in college classes and have made huge changes in their life.”
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“My favorite part at our dinner was going around the table and hearing what their dreams and aspirations are. I can’t wait to see them all come true,” she added, before expressing thanks to the staff at the facility for hosting them.
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Tristan reposted the photos to his own account and echoed the same sentiments, thanking Kim and the staff for “including” him in their Friendsgiving.
Dylan Buell / Getty Images
“These young men have chosen a positive direction to create changes in their lives. Thankful for the experience,” he wrote.
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Instagram: @realtristan13
Of course, people were glad to see Kim making an effort to give back during the holidays, however fans had a lot of questions about why she’d choose to share the experience with Tristan, Khloé Kardashian’s ex-partner.
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Instagram: @realtristan13
In the unlikely event that you need reminding of Tristan’s repeated infidelities, the NBA star has been exposed for publicly cheating on Khloé on numerous occasions since they started dating in 2016.
Jerritt Clark / Getty Images for Remy Martin
Most recently, he was forced to come clean after it was revealed that he’d fathered a child with another woman while he and Khloé were engaged and were in the midst of a surrogacy journey to welcome their second child.
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Instagram: @khloekardashian
Khloé and Tristan’s son was born in July, and in the first episode of The Kardashians Season 2, we got a raw look at how deeply traumatized Khloé was by his betrayal and how it tainted their son’s birth.
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Notably, Kim had actually been the one to tell Khloé that Tristan had fathered another child after discovering the news online herself. The heartbreaking moment was caught on camera during the Season 1 finale, where we witnessed Kim’s unadulterated fury.
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“I’m not fucking lying. And I’m shaking for [Khloé]. My soul kills, dies for her,” Kim tells Kylie over the phone in a state of shock. “The whole thing that’s so sad is that she wants a baby boy. And now this girl is having a fucking baby boy? A fucking random that he sleeps with one night? Fuck him!”
Hulu / Disney+
And with the image of Kim’s rage so clear in our minds, it’s not surprising that fans have been left completely blindsided by seeing her extend the olive branch.
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Instagram: @realtristan13
“There is literally zero reason for her to collaborate with him so publicly after what he has put her sister through. Gross,” one person wrote on Reddit.
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Another added in response: “I would never in a million years ‘collaborate’ with my sister’s baby daddy/ex who’s cheated on her multiple times. Idc [if] my sister got along with him or not. Fuck out of here.”
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If you’ve followed the Kardashians for a while now, you’ll know that Tristan and Khloé rekindled their relationship on two occasions following his prior cheating scandals back in 2018 and 2019, and in turn, Tristan was welcomed back into the family.
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What’s more, both reunions were tracked on the family’s TV shows, with Tristan and Khloé’s rehabilitated romance forming central storylines on both Keeping Up With The Kardashians and later, The Kardashians.
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Because of this, fans are suspicious that Kim’s post could be the first sign of yet another “redemption tour” in hopes that Tristan might be able to redeem himself in the eyes of the public.
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“yah! the pr clean up is underway,” one user wrote.
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“Since when does Tristan care about anyone but himself? This a clear PR attempt to get the public to rehabilitate Tristan’s image,” added another.
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Others made callbacks to his previous rebrands on the show, suggesting that a new “phase” of his image rehab is being “implemented” as we speak.
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Among the responses, fans attempted to theorize why Kim might be associating with someone she publicly had so much disdain towards, with some speculating that he and Khloé might be back together for a third time, and this is simply the family’s attempt at “warming” critics up to his return.
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Interestingly, there was equal chatter about the possibility that Khloé and Tristan’s as-yet-unnamed baby boy might be called Tristan. Jr, and that they’re trying to “paint him in a semi okay light” before making the big announcement.
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Someone else posited the theory that including Tristan in the visit and sharing the photos online might have been a tactic to evoke publicity and direct more attention towards the family’s philanthropic efforts.
Phillip Faraone / Getty Images for Baby2Baby
“I feel like everything they do is calculated. Even the philanthropic stuff,” one Reddit user suggested. “[Kim] knows by inviting trashcan this post will gain a lot of traction, reposts elsewhere. It’ll also put trashcan in a good light, he doesn’t have a team to play for at the moment and seems like he just wants to go back to playing for Khloe’s heart again.”
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They continued: “Why would Kim even associate herself with this man after everything he’s done to her sister? They push out episodes showing how much hurt and pain this man has caused Khloe but on the flip side still have him as their bestie??”
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Instagram: @khloekardashian
With all this in mind, it’s also worth noting that the family are in the midst of filming for the third season of The Kardashians, and so it’s possible that this could be their attempt at incorporating Tristan back into the show.
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But, speculation aside, if there’s one thing we know about the Kardashian Jenners, it’s that they’re always striving to maintain close and civil bonds with the fathers of their children, even when they’ve hurt them.
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Instagram: @khloekardashian
Whether it’s Scott Disick, Kanye West, or Tristan, the sisters make an effort to keep their exes close to hand, with Khloé even comparing their unusual family dynamic to “the mob.”
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Instagram: @kourtneykardash
“Once you’re in, it’s like the mob, you can’t get out,” she said.
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Instagram: @kimkardashian
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Topics in this article
Tristan ThompsonKim KardashianKhloe KardashianEllen DurneyBuzzFeed News Staff
Ellen Durney is a Celebrity News Fellow for BuzzFeed News and is based in London.
Contact Ellen Durney at ellen.durney@buzzfeed.com.
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