Flipping through channels a few minutes ago I alight on the Concert for Hurricane Relief. Just in time to see Mike Myers and Kanye West doing what was obviously supposed to be a scripted bit between acts. Mike does his lines, something about with the levees broken the landscape of NO is changed possibly forever. West went right off-script. He started off by blasting the media for supposedly calling black people taking stuff from stores “looting” and calling white people doing the same thing “looking for food.” After another minute or so, an increasingly uncomfortable Myers goes back to his next speech, which made no sense because West refused to provide the set-up. Back to West, who got as far into his next rant as “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” before NBC cut to another black guy (who I didn’t recognize) with and extremely uncomfortable look on his face, who was totally forced into “all us black folks don’t believe like that” damage control mode.
Shit like that is why I love live TV. Kinda reminded me of Jerry Lewis back in the day, when he was doing the whole telethon live and would hit somewhere around 3 AM and go completely off the rails.
Kanye West was just reminding America that during this time of trouble we shouldn’t let our temporary concern for disaster victims divert us from what’s really important in our lives - celebrities. They’re the ones who really need our constant attention.
Did you see the MTV special wherein he talks about how much he loves gay people? Rough paraphrase:
“The hip-hop culture as a whole is really down on gay people. But then I found out that my cousin was gay, and I realized that I love my cousin. So I’m saying this on TV in the hope that my message gets out to all the rappers: stop hating on gay people!”
Kind of makes me sad because that’s really idealistic in an egotistical kind of way, this notion that if he just makes his thoughts about important issues known to the general public, then people will hark and change their wicked ways.
I’m amused by the exorbitant credit West is being given for Jesus Walks. It’s like he gave Christianity a helping hand by extending his personal endorsement.
And Little Nemo, you’re right about “Jesus Walks.” It totally cracks me up that in a song that is about, you know, Jesus, he manages to fit in the line, “Somebody tell these n*****s who Kanye West is” and makes the comment that since he’s rapping on a religious topic, his album probably won’t be as profitable, but he has high hopes that it will “take away from [his] sins” and presumably help him get into heaven.
So he would have been in a real pickle if it were gay black men taking all the guns and ammo from the Wal-Marts, huh?
I hope he enjoyed his 15 minutes, because I would guess that they are just about over.
That was Chris Tucker who was put in the uncomfprtable position of trying to right the ship. He didn’t understand the words that were coming out of Kanye’s mouth, either.
Man, that was hilarious… and a little sad. It’s clear Kanye was upset, but he flew right off the rails. It was like watching the shy kid in your class give the speech as he runs for class vice president. The stammering, the lack of focus… methinks Kanye should have gone ahead and wrote some note cards before hitting the air.
Where can I get a shirt that says “George Bush Hates Black People?”
Mike Myers’ face was priceless. As was Chris Tucker’s.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, although I’d missed the intro and didn’t know who the guy was next to Mike Myers. I don’t entirely agree with him–nothing’s that simple–but I think he felt it needed to be said and he seemed scared of what he was saying as he said it.
Myers and Tucker obviously had producers screaming in their ears or a director gesturing frantically at them next to the cameras they were staring at like jacklighted deer; both recovered nicely, Tucker after a few “WTF?” blinks. I don’t know how far across the studio he was from the other duo and perhaps he didn’t know what was going on at all.
What I want to know is if this little segment will be repeated in the West Coast airing–left coast Dopers, front and center please! NBC of course is screwed–if they Air the Inflammatory Comments when it’s not live, they catch hell, if they cut it out, they’re Censoring The Black Man, and they catch hell.
On a replay on CNBC, the first part of West’s rant was aired while the “George Bush hates black people” opinion and immediate cut to Tucker was replaced with a graphic and audio was edited out.
The worst part is that Kanye West isn’t an idiot. He’s a talented musician who just failed to realize there is a time when an individual needs to step back out of the limelight and let something else be the center of attention. Regardless of his personal beliefs, or even the possible truth of those beliefs, the reason he was supposed to be there for was to help encourage efforts for disaster relief. It was not a time to start a debate on American race relationships.
Kanye’s tirade was dispicable, plain and simple. The point of last night’s program was for Kanye to volunteer his incredible recognition to help raise support for people who are in so much need. It takes a real jackass to start politicking during a disaster relief concert.
Kanye loves to get his “message” out as La Llorona stated above. I’m glad he isn’t spreading around hate or anything, or causing racial tension in an already sensitive situation. I would hate to see someone take the opportunity to help people and turn it into a personal promotion in any way. All he wanted was to cause controversy so he could boost record sales.
This guy is a complete idiot, and I hope he suffers (as an artist) for the bile that was pouring out of his mouth last night.
Okay, I keep seeing this guy’s name all over the place and wondering how it’s pronounced. Is it “Kan” as in “Kal-Kan” + “ye” as in “O Come All Ye Faithful,” or something else?
The worst part of that rant was that he torpedoed the efforts of a lot of people. That HAD to have an effect on contributions last night. I’d be interesting in seeing a graph showing how much money was collected in the time before that speech vs the time after.
He struck me as someone who has more opinions than brain cells. Up until now, I just thought he was incredibly arrogant. Now I know he’s both arrogant and stupid.
Sam Stone. I think anyone thinks that people would, en masse, withhold contributions to people in need just to spite one goofball on TV who ranted at a slow moving president need a reality check.
Whether he’s an idiot or an asshole or an egomaniac (and he may very likely be all three), I have to admit he’s one of the most interesting and innovative song-crafters right now. I have loved everything I’ve heard that he has written, produced, and rapped on, and most hip-hop these days leaves me cold. I wish people could separate the art from the artist, because Kanye really is a great talent, and I always enjoy hearing new stuff from him.
