Comments on: Kanye West: Back To Reality?

By: memento

memento — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:49:47 +0000

Kanye was not just a little drunk, but was actually carring a damn bottle around the red carpet (not to mention sharing it with Joe Jackson):

http://pics.livejournal.com/ecctv/pic/00rf0qd5

I expect people to get hammered at industry ‘dos most of the time, but this is just ridiculous. And it’s really, really odd Kanye made a total embarrassment of himself in this way too and yet this fact is omitted from most accounts of the events of last night. Being drunk is by no means an excuse for boorish behaviour, but think about it this way: had it been a woman doing the same thing, every headline this morning would have trumpeted what a “trainwreck” she was.

By: brownie

brownie — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:53:06 +0000

Maura, I want more wrestling lingo thrown into these posts – perhaps something about the internet being a bunch of marks for believing this if it turns out to be a work.

By: Shabutie

Shabutie — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:26:01 +0000

As kids will be kids – Kanye is clearly just being Kanye. I’m just stoked that P!NK and Kelly came out and gave him a good online lashing. Keep it up girls.

By: Audif Jackson Winters III

Audif Jackson Winters III — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:30:50 +0000

@Maura: There are moments when I regret getting older and slowly, inevitably, losing touch with pop music. And then I see something like that and it makes me feel better.

By: Maura

Maura — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:19:53 +0000

@Chris Molanphy: WAIT. "Sabotage" DID win last night! See? SEE? Meanwhile, this photo makes me want to blow up the world.

By: Chris Molanphy

Chris Molanphy — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:13:34 +0000

I keep forgetting to mention this — which actually strengthens my belief that this wasn’t planned…

Anyone remember the 1994 stage bum-rush on behalf of the Beasties’ “Sabotage”? I believe it was Yauch, in his “Nathaniel Hornblower” drag, interrupting Michael Stipe to protest the shutout of “Sabotage” from not only the big category but, I think, everything that year. (It lost to the overrated, hasn’t-aged-all-that-well Aerosmith clip for “Cryin’.” R.E.M. had won Director or Breakthrough or something for “Everybody Hurts,” hence the Stipe interruption.)

Story here: http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/awards/14199/the-only-vmas-category-that-matters/

In both that case and last night’s episode, the bum-rusher was a bit rude but totally, totally correct on artistic grounds.

(Actually, Yauch’s complaint was even more justified; “Sabotage,” one of the all-time three or four best examples of the music-video medium, period, winning no Moonmen was truly insane. Last night, Kanye was just being impatient; it was only Best Female Video, after all, and B took the big prize.)

By: Lampbane

Lampbane — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:12:16 +0000

@mmmcoffee: I was thinking about how interesting it was that it happened so early in the broadcast, because "Single Ladies" was up for Video of the Year too, and Kanye wasn't content to wait for the results of that, either because he knew she would win and that wouldn't give him stage time, or that maybe, secretly he thought the "Single Ladies" video wasn't as good as he claimed it was and didn't think it would win Video of the Year and complaining about that one would just make him look even stupider.

By: LostTurntable

LostTurntable — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:53:31 +0000

@Maura: Or maybe he's just a big giant douchenozzle.

By: mmmcoffee

mmmcoffee — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:36:17 +0000

I, too, felt there was something a little too… buzzy? about Kanye’s outburst. Really, it just happened to be at the begining of the telecast? On a year when they’re really pushing the whole interactive social media blahblah? Maybe they didn’t outright choreograph the moment, but perhaps didn’t stop it/ tried to encourage it? Maybe I’ve been watching too many reruns of Lost with Ben manipulating people, but I don’t think it would take a lot of work for a drunken Kanye to get it into his head this is a) his idea and b) a good one at that. For what it’s worth, if it was MTV’s plan, it worked — after Mad Men, I logged onto facebook and read everyone’s comments so turned on the VMAs.

By: Dickdogfood

Dickdogfood — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:54:26 +0000

…which is to say that ummm it probably wasn’t planned. But if it was, man, MTV are even more cynical than I initially took credit for.

When he goes out of his way to make you understand his hunger and his rage, Kanye’s ego is a wonderful thing. Otherwise…