In a new interview, one of the robbers who broke into Kim Kardashian's Paris hotel room in 2016 said he has no remorse for the crime and "[doesn't] care" Kardashian was traumatized by the incident.
Yunis Abbas was one of 12 men charged for the crime—in which Kardashian and a hotel employee were held hostage at gunpoint in her hotel room. Abbas was recently granted an early release from prison for health reasons.
Speaking with Vice News, Abbas said Kardashian's behavior on her former reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians convinced him Kardashian was rich to a level justifying his attack on her and he has no remorse for the incident whatsoever.
Abbas told Vice he didn't know who Kardashian was at the time, but was familiar with her then-husband Ye.
While researching her during the planning of the crime, Abbas watched episodes of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and one episode in particular stood out to him.
He told Vice:
“I saw one of her shows where she threw her diamond in the pool, in that episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians."
"I thought, 'She’s got a lot of money. This lady doesn’t care at all'."
He went on to say he of course understands Kardashian was traumatized by the event, but he simply doesn't care.
“Of course she must have been traumatized. I don’t doubt it...”
“...Since she was throwing money away, I was there to collect it and that was that."
"Guilty? No, I don’t care. I don’t care.”
But the incident was more than a simple robbery for Kardashian, as she described in detail during a 2020 interview with David Letterman.
In that sit-down, Kardashian related how Abbas and his 11 accomplices handcuffed her, tied her up with zip-ties and duct-taped her mouth and eyes.
Kardashian also said since she was wearing only her bathrobe, she was certain she was going to be sexually assaulted and began mentally preparing herself for the brutality.
She told Letterman:
“So I was like, ‘OK, this is the time, I’m going to get raped. Just deal, like, it’s gonna happen.’ You know, like just prepare yourself.”
She also began thinking of her sister Kourtney Kardashian, who was out with friends.
She imagined her coming back to the hotel suite to her brutalized, dead body.
“I kept on thinking, [Kourtney's] gonna come home, and I’m gonna be dead in the room, and she’s gonna be traumatized for the rest of her life if she sees me.”
On social media, many were horrified by Abbas' comments.
\u201c@latimes Who does this surprise? Criminals don\u2019t care.\u201d— Los Angeles Times (@Los Angeles Times) 1661202900
\u201c@TMZ Wow that must have been truly scary to been robbed like that\u201d— TMZ (@TMZ) 1661036280
\u201c@TMZ Irregardless of how rich she is, at the end of the day she\u2019s human and she didn\u2019t deserve to get robbed.\u201d— TMZ (@TMZ) 1661047503
\u201cListen, I\u2019m all for a good kardashian hate train but not in this case. This man held her hostage and tired her up. Anything could\u2019ve happened to her. It doesn\u2019t matter how much someone flexes on tv, hostage situation robberies will NEVER be excusable.\u201d— Lauv\u270c\ufe0e (@Lauv\u270c\ufe0e) 1661279778
\u201c@PopCrave @VICENews saw this yesterday and it\u2019s weird asf. tying her up and holding her hostage isn\u2019t justification for being flashy with jewelry\u2026 and why are y\u2019all interviewing him???\u201d— Pop Crave (@Pop Crave) 1661265734
\u201cHonestly Kim Kardashian gets clowned on a lot, but the when you hear her talk about the Paris robbery it is so hard to listen to.\u201d— \u2022S\u2022 (@\u2022S\u2022) 1661198792
Abbas also detailed how he and his accomplices planned the attack, saying they tracked Kardashian on Snapchat.
He issued a threat to other celebrities living similar lifestyles.
“They should be a little less showy toward people who can’t afford it. For some people, it’s provocative.”
Kardashian has said the anxiety and flashbacks she has suffered since the ordeal indeed changed her approach to social media, only posting content after the fact so she is not as easily trackable.
