Sep 15 2009

A Clarification on Kanye West

Here's my opinion! Dammit!

Since there may be some confusion (irritation, ignoring, whatever) regarding my seemingly conflicting opinions about the Kanye West / Taylor Swift incident and the Serena Williams outburst, here is a clarification.

Kanye West acted like a jerk. A big jerk. It was a stupid thing to do. It was rude. And so on.

But he didn’t threaten to shove anything down Taylor Swift’s throat. That I would have been up in arms about. He interrupted an award show.

Howard Stern said on the air today that he gets crazy when a man invades a woman’s space, and I can understand that opinion. I still think the public reaction to the whole thing is overblown. It’s a big scary rapper being mean to the willowy blonde girl. She’s so helpless! Please. This is an incredibly successful musician. Do you think someone becomes that famous at the age of 19 by being an innocent?

To be clear: I am not say what Kanye West did was OK. But some of the reactions were way over the top.

Also worth mentioning is the fact Kanye apologized relatively quickly, whereas Serena seemed not to understand what she did. Plus the public reaction to Serena was divided, with some people actually saying that it was OK. Haven’t heard anyone supporting Mr. West. (I guess I’m filling that void. Ha ha.)

Lastly, the two situations aren’t that comparable in my opinion. One is a major sports contest decided based on physical ability. The other is an award for the best music video from a channel that barely plays music videos anymore. Who decides who wins? Viewers, which means it was a bunch of 14 year old girls, which would explain why Taylor Swift won? Not the same.

Image from Archive.org. It has nothing to do with this post. I just liked the picture.


Sep 14 2009

A Better Response To Kanye At The VMAs

People are all up in arms about Kanye West having the nerve – the NERVE! – to inerrupt Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards, aka the VMAs. This report from ABC News would make one think that something really important happened.

At worst, Kanye West acted liked a jerk. But “OH NOES! HOW COULD HE DO THAT TO POOR LITTLE TAYLOR SWIFT????” C’mon. “This was a huge night for her!” Really? This is what we get worked up about?

A better response?

The VMAs are bullshit. MTV is a corrupt enterprise responsible for the sexualization of underage kids. It barely plays music or videos anymore. It’s an award show. Pick one of these reasons. Or several. Or make up your own. But this is really highly unimportant.

If you want to see an award show interruption that’s much more fun, check out ODB at the Grammy’s. (Via Wrongspeech.)

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2-5GSjZvW8]

Everything ODB did was awesome. Except dying. That sucked.