Once again, we've been reminded the hard way of a very important truth -- things what sound too good to be true generally are.
Last year, fans delighted in the news that Kylie Jenner had become the world's youngest self-made billionaire thanks to her wildly popular cosmetics line.
But according to new report from Forbes, Kylie employed some well-worn, underhanded methods to exaggerate her new worth.
As Forbes points out, cooking the books to artificially inflate one's wealth is such a common practice among a certain class of public figure that even that the president is guilty of it.
However, the campaign to cast Kylie in the role of billionaire was not just another Kris Jenner-concocted publicity stunt.
Real people were impacted by what the magazine calls Kylie's "web of lies," most notably, those who invested in her beauty brand.
"Filings released by publicly traded Coty over the past six months lay bare one of the family’s best-kept secrets," Forbes reports.
"Kylie’s business is significantly smaller, and less profitable, than the family has spent years leading the cosmetics industry and media outlets, including Forbes, to believe"
After laying out its case over the course of several paragraphs, the magazine finally states its findings in no uncertain terms:
"Based on this new information—plus the impact of COVID-19 on beauty stocks and consumer spending—Forbes now thinks that Kylie Jenner, even after pocketing an estimated $340 million after tax from the sale, is not a billionaire," today's report reads.
Apparently, Kylie's company's annual revenue from 2016 to 2018 was reported as somewhere between $307 million to $360 million per year.
In reality, Forbes claims, the numbers were $125 million for 2018 and $177 million for 2017, which puts the value of her portfolio well below $1 billion.
On Twitter, Kylie has started clapping back at the magazine's claims, arguing that Forbes' reporting was shoddy and inaccurate:
"What am i even waking up to. i thought this was a reputable site," her tirade began.
"All i see are a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions lol. O’ve never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. Period," Kylie continued.
"'Even creating tax returns that were likely forged'” that’s your proof? So you just THOUGHT they were forged? like actually what am i reading," Jenner tweeted.
"I am blessed beyond my years, I have a beautiful daughter, and a successful business and i’m doing perfectly fine," she added.
"I can name a list of 100 things more important right now than fixating on how much money i have," Kylie concluded.
The "there are more important things happening in the world right now!" argument doesn't really work here for two reasons:
1. Kylie is currently throwing a tweet tantrum about this very topic, and
2. It's Forbes. Fixating on money is kinda what they do. You might as well complain that ESPN is still posting articles about sports.
When commenters encouraged Kylie to devote her energy to speaking out on the riots currently consuming Minneapolis, she responded, "I did."
No doubt, all over social media, Kylie stans are defending their queen by pointing out that she's still fabulously wealthy.
But in a way, that truth just makes her dishonesty all the more shameful.
It wasn't enough for Kylie to simply be the head of a staggeringly successful company worth hundreds of millions of dollars in her early twenties?
She really had to go a step further and risk her reputation by disingenuously claiming the billionaire title?
All of this comes on the heels of Forbes declaring Kanye West a billionaire, and the rapper/sneaker entrepreneur responding with claims that the publication still undervalued his net worth.
Perhaps as America approaches a 25 percent unemployment rate, the extended Kar-Jenner clan will grow to realize that treating capitalism as a spectator sport with a small handful of super-stars was never a great look.
