It’s that time of year again – the time of year when the media is abounded with celebrity gossip, drama, and news. Yep, it’s award show season. And while most award shows hold the promise and potential of juicy celebrity news, one award show really delivered this last week: The 2009 Video Music Awards. This year on the VMA’s, hundreds of thousands of viewers watched Kanye West openly rip on young teenage pop/country star Taylor Swift as she accepted her first award of the night.
The night started off with the presentation of the first award, the award for Best Female Video. The award went to Taylor Swift for her video “You Belong With Me.” Taylor ran onto stage to accept her award, beginning to enthusiastically thank everyone. All of a sudden, Kanye West stormed the stage, grabbing the microphone out of her hand. He muttered, “Hold on, I’ll let you finish,” and then continued on to yell “I'm sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.” The camera shot to Beyonce in the audience, who looked stunned, and then back to Taylor, who looked as if she had been slapped in the face The audience did not respond well to Kanye’s rant; in support of Taylor Swift, they all stood and gave her a standing ovation. A still speechless Taylor was then escorted off the stage.
People all over the country were shocked by Kanye West’s rant – thousands of Facebook users updated their statuses, voicing their disappointment and questioning the meaning behind his unbelievable actions. Some where amused, thinking that maybe he was just standing for the integrity of the music business and didn't believe that Taylor deserved her honor. However, this was not the first time Kanye pulled this sort of stunt. In fact, two years ago at the 2007 VMA’s in Las Vegas, he lost his temper when his performance was set in a hotel suite instead of the main stage. He also voiced his discontent at the American Music Awards in 2004 when he did not win Best New Artist, claiming that he was robbed.
So why does Kanye West continue to cause these scandals? The general consensus of his rant at this year VMA’s is that he wrongfully attacked Taylor Swift, but for what reason? The Best Female Video category has nothing to do with Kanye and his awards and nominations; also, Beyonce definitely didn’t appreciate the “extra help.” In fact, when Beyonce won her own award for her music video later in the evening, she called Taylor Swift back onto the stage so that she could have her moment, the moment in the spotlight that was rudely disrupted by Kanye earlier in the show.
It seems like Kanye West is trying to draw any kind of attention to himself, whether it be negative or positive. However, it’s doubtful that he thought the reaction to his rant would be as negative as it was. Many people have even begun to say that his actions have made them want to stop listening to his music and support him as an artist. Is his fan base about to start shrinking rapidly? One thing’s for sure -- Kanye’s brief moment in the VMA “spotlight” is now gone, and it’s time for him to face the coming ramifications of his actions. And by the way, congratulations Taylor Swift! You deserved it.
This columnist did a good job of detailing out what happened on stage - and in spanking Kayne West quite hard.
ReplyDeleteI think for this to be stronger, the writer could have added more background about Mr. West, not just the details of the incident.
And to make it more clever, perhaps suggest something about what might happen if he ever was on the same stage with Toby Keith and pulled such a stunt.
Or maybe with the Dixie Chicks.