I am not angry with Kanye West and let me tell you why. Right after Kanye’s stunt at the MTV VMAs, I was in shock for about 6 minutes. I really couldn’t speak or think clearly because I have been an avid music award viewer since I was a child, seen quite a few things, but nothing like that. Kanye was wrong for interrupting Taylor Swift’s speech, taking the mic, downplaying her award and re-awarding Beyonce – who from the looks of her face and body language was quite embarrassed and wanted nothing to do with the debacle. There’s no denying that Kanye had no right to take those actions and step on the Swift’s young, innocent joy.
However, I immediately knew something was wrong with Kanye. Something wasn’t the same. Yea we’ve known him to be outlandish and tell award shows that they’re being disrespectful for cutting off his acceptance speech (Grammy’s) or not awarding him when he felt he was deserving (MTV), but there was something different this time. Before he was defending himself and hurting no one. This time he was on a rant to defend another artist and hurt an artist who I’m sure worked hard for her success. I immediately wondered why.
People were quick to bash Kanye West. They didn’t take two seconds to see that this wasn’t his usual antic…that there was a deeper issue, which I think was pretty clear for any person with depth. But of course, the general population is rather shallow and oblivious.
Soon after, pictures surfaced of Kanye getting buzzed up on the VMAs red carpet (pre-awards) with a bottle of Henny to the left and snake skin woman to the right. Again, I’m not saying he’s right by any means, nor is being drunk an excuse for outlandish and hurtful behavior. Kanye was definitely wrong, and has been wrong+sober in the past. My point though, is that the entire study of psychology is based on the brain and how we all react to life’s circumstances differently. There are plenty of drunks on the street or even in our families who are the way they are because of their reaction to circumstances. “Dam, something is wrong with him, he needs help” is more powerful than “F*ck Kanye, he’s a d*ck,” which is all I was hearing at the time.
To be completely honest, if you didn’t like Kanye and didn’t support his music before this situation, none of what I’m saying is directed to you. You can continue disliking him and not supporting him, as I can completely understand and respect your viewpoint. He has done and said many controversial things in the past that can polarize you to either love or hate him. Personally, before this point, he didn’t make me do more than either laugh or shake my head. My comments are directed to the Kanye supporters who tolerated or even rocked with him before, who are suddenly anti-Kanye. These people are fickle and simple-minded. These are the people who read tabloid covers or hear gossip from a friend, nod their heads and all of a sudden that word is gospel. These are the people who ran Michael Jackson into the ground. Do better.
Ask yourself if you’ve ever been drunk and said or done something that hurt someone else. Or have you ever had a friend who you’ve forgiven for drunken dumbness after they apologized? Chances are you’ve been in at least one of those scenarios. I’ve forgiven friends who did drunken dumbness and they were not even drinking out of depression. They were just drunk to be drunk. So think a little deeper as to why some people would be weighing this simple situation between two artists so heavily, as if he beat someone, or statutory raped someone?
Not to mention, this is THE SAME Kanye who was THE ONLY celebrity bold enough to call out the President of the most powerful country in the world and say that he doesn’t like black people. How easily people forget. “George Bush doesn’t care about black people!” Career on the line and all, Kanye has always talked out of turn, hate it or love it. This time, yes, it went a little too far because he’s been drinking away his depression… because he’s going through some things with the his mother passing, his fiance leaving him, the stress of a non-stop life on stage and the ordinary stresses of life. You don’t know that you yourself wouldn’t turn to alcohol if you were dealing with his battles. Or even if not alcohol, what would your reaction be? Running through women/men to fill a void? Shutting people who love you out of your life? Becoming a workaholic so you don’t have to deal with the pain that is your reality? Everyone has something.
But the question remains, if Kanye sincerely apologized for hurting Swift and anybody else who got hurt, why are some Kanye fans turning their backs? Is he not human? Is what he did REALLY that bad? Or is it just easier to write someone off instead of trying to figure them out?
The overall point is this: Kanye isn’t paying me to write this, but as usual, celebrity lives reflect our own. We go through what they go through, just under less magnification. We get scrutinized from the people around us rather than people around the world. If you were a Kanye fan before and you turn your back now, you’re really high school and need to do better. Perez Hilton and a number of celebrities and bloggers are on this rampant anti-Kanye thing like he punched them in the mouth. High school!
Picture this. High school: you had a homie who was outspoken as hell, but you accepted it or even liked it. It was entertaining as hell and usually they didn’t hurt anybody but themselves, but they didn’t care. Then one day your homie was going through some personal things and had a bad day, he spazzed on some chick you don’t even care for. Word spread around school that he was uncool for it and even after he apologized and explained himself, people just stopped talking to him. Is that still your homie?
