Kim Kardashian Left the House Without Her Engagement Ring, and the Internet Is Freaking Out

Kim Kardashian hasn’t made a full return to being in the public eye since she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris this past October; however, she has gone on a few outings since the incident, and we are happy to see her attempting to regain some normalcy. Of course, the robbery—plus rumors that her marriage to Kanye West is in jeopardy—have put even more of a magnifying glass on Kardashian, who was already the victim of some pretty intense scrutiny. Simply put, the paparazzi are on her tail now more than ever—and they were on it pretty hard before.

The result of these heightened stakes? Unfounded hysteria. Exhibit A: These recently-released photos that many say show Kardashian not wearing her diamond engagement ring. People on the Internet are losing their minds over these photos and think they’re a surefire sign that Kimye is on the rocks.

But we’re calling bullshit. If you look closely at these pictures, you can see a simple gold band around Kardashian’s ring finger, which is most likely her wedding band. No, Kardashian is not rocking her usual opulent jewelry, but that doesn’t mean she is divorcing West. Are y’all forgetting that the Paris robbers physically stole jewelry from Kardashian? She probably kept the flashy bling at home as a protective measure. Wouldn’t you? See one of the photos/receipts for yourself, below:

Yes, the Internet’s meltdown over these images is logically unfounded (see above), but it’s also just messed up on a cultural level. Many people thought Kardashian somehow “deserved” to be robbed because she “flaunted” her wealth all over social media; these people thought Kardashian’s public social media trail of diamonds and designer clothes led robbers to her door. (That’s bogus, obviously. It wasn’t Kardashian’s fault. It’s never the victim’s fault.) Critics who bought into this theory had some choice, hindsight advice for Kardashian: If she hadn’t worn her wealth on her sleeves, this wouldn’t have happened. They vilified her for wearing her rings.

And now they’re vilifying her for doing the exact opposite. In these new pictures, Kardashian ditched the extravagant diamonds—probably for safety reasons—and the Internet is criticizing her again. She’s single! She’s alone! She’s heartbroken! It seems Kardashian can’t escape a negative narrative no matter what she does. She can’t win. And isn’t that screwed up?

Not to quote Chris Crocker (but to quote Chris Crocker), leave Kim Kardashian alone on this one. Keeping Up With the Kardashians hardly tells us anything about her real life, so there’s no way these burry, late-night pictures do. It’s time people stop creating hoopla over quite literally nothing.

To be honest, the most interesting thing about these photos is the fact that Kardashian has her own crying face emoji as a car air freshener.