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Kylie Jenner’s relationship with Timothée Chalamet has thrust her into the spotlight more than ever in 2026. The reality TV star is known for her famous family and their reality show. Now, she’s dipping her toes into acting while also maintaining her business ventures and mothering two children. In March 2026, Vanity Fair released a cover featuring Jenner — and she’s receiving backlash over her skin tone. Here’s what everyone’s talking about.

Kylie Jenner’s skin tone in the March 2026 Vanity Fair cover has fans talking

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Kylie Jenner is well-known in pop culture thanks to the Kardashian-Jenner dynasty and her high-profile romance with award-winning actor, Timothée Chalamet. She frequently supports Chalamet at awards ceremonies, finally bringing their private romance into the spotlight. And she made it known that she has plans to step into acting herself. She made her acting debut in the 2026 A24 mockumentary film The Moment, playing an exaggerated version of herself.

While Jenner has received a lot of positive press in 2026, fans grew upset by her Vanity Fair cover in March 2026. The cover, as seen on Instagram, depicts Jenner lighting a cigarette while sitting in a bra and high-waisted army-green riding pants. Fans complained about the “ethnicity change,” referring to Jenner’s darkened complexion.

“Why the ethnicity change?” actress Grecia Castillo De la Paz commented.

“Kylie is WHITE-skinned and they darkened her for this shoot … so why did they do that?” another fan commented.

“Is this really Kylie Jenner?” another fan wrote. “I really thought at first that the wrong image was used. Wow….”

Other fans commented on the cigarette that Jenner is lighting in the photo.

“Smoking is not in fashion,” a user wrote.

This is far from the first time that Kylie and the other Kardashian-Jenner family members have been accused of “Blackfishing” — a term combining “catfishing” and “Black.” According to TIME, journalist Wanna Thompson coined the term in 2018. Her viral Twitter thread discussed the phenomenon as “white girls cosplaying as Black women.”

“They’ve been called out for cultural appropriation for a decade plus now, and it’s no secret that they’ve adopted many styles that Black women or Black culture have created and made them more palatable,” Wanna Thompson said about the Kardashian-Jenners. She went on to reference Kim Kardashian’s ‘boxer braids’ — a style originally worn by Black women. “Now people think they’re copying the Kardashian-Jenners when they dress or do their hair or tan their skin a certain way.”

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