Kanye West is sorry, unbelievable but true, apparently for the lame stunt he pulled on singer Taylor Swift at the VMAs while she was accepting an award. Who knew this guy had an apologetic bone in his body and that he would actually let us know?
It is practically the same as Kanye saying his little act on the Jay Leno show on Monday night, the ploy to garner sympathy for what he had done to Taylor, was real. You just can’t swallow it and nothing Kanye can say or pretend to do, like faking a near-cry on Leno is going to change that.
Leno asked him about his mom and what she would have made of the Taylor incident, stunning Kanye into an uncomfortable silence. Clearly, he is still emotional about his mom who passed away a short while ago, but Kanye doesn’t get a free pass because of that. In fact, Leno intentionally asked the question to call out Kanye on his silly action because his mom definitely would have.
But guess what? The public hauled him over hot coals for it and pushed him into an apology that came hours after the incident instead of minutes later. There is nothing about this guy that said he would have done it without the pressure. Kanye had an opportunity to demonstrate that his incivility towards Taylor was rash thinking, by apologizing to the young singer while they were still at the VMA awards, but he didn’t. He waited until the world started to cave in on him.
How about if the world caves in on him by demanding he wears a muzzle and also insisting he takes an oath to never again disrespect people who he opines are less deserving of accolades than others. The amount of times this man has raised the ire of others are enough to document and publish in a book titled, “Kanye offends again”. Problem is newer editions would likely have to be put out every year to keep up with the stuff this guy does.
Kanye is and always has been Mr Ego on the American rap scene since he went from producer to singer. He is the kind of publicity junkie who feeds off attention as if it’s a drug and he is as offensive as they come. Note the reference to offensive is not tied to celebrities, but to people like Kanye who feel they can get away with disrespecting any and everyone.
Taylor Swift won the VMA award for Best Female Video, “You Belong to me” because of her popularity, rising star and strong record sales. She won ahead of Beyonce and Pink and a few others who sat and cheered as the young star broke into the VMA spotlight for the first time. Then up comes Kanye. He grabs the microphone from the singer and disrespects her by railing that Beyonce had the better nominated video. Would he have done the same thing if Pink had won? Not a chance, he went after Taylor because she was the least likely to take the microphone back and pummel him with it.
There has got to be a limit to the things people including entertainers are allowed to do and Kanye went too far this time. He is known for ranting at award shows when he is nominated and leaves without any of the trophies, and has been pompous to the extent where he actually said which award should have gone to him. Before the 2006 Grammys were handed out he declared the album of the year award should go to him, but it went to the band U2. Kanye was furious and had no trouble showing it yet earlier in the year he was the opening act at U2’s concert in several countries. In 2007 he threw a fit when MTV Awards decided to open the show with a number from Britney Spears instead of him and his song, “Stronger”. He suggested his race had something to do with it and said Britney was being exploited for ratings, adding that she had failed to garner a number one hit in a while.
Kanye’s record sales and celebrated genius are overshadowed by his antics and public displays of small-mindedness, which are becoming too frequent and clearly out of hand. The Taylor Swift incident sits atop a list of behaviour so foul it stinks. (thescene@stabroeknews.com)
