Posted: 09/21/09

Kanye West is known for idiotic comments, such as his claims to be “the voice of this generation,” or that former president Bush “does not care about black people.” Because it’s nearly impossible to take someone in Venetian blind sunglasses seriously, we tend to ignore such statements. But when West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards to proclaim that Beyoncé Knowles had “one of the best videos of all time,” America said “enough.”

Moments after West’s outburst, the first shots were fired by the bloggers and Twitterers watching at home. Even celebrities attending the VMAs got in on the act. Outspoken pop star Pink wrote on her Twitter feed “Kanye West is the biggest piece of sh** on earth. Quote me,” then went on to add, “Beyoncé is a classy lady. I feel for her, too. It’s not her fault at all, and her and Taylor did their thing.”

As the week progressed, things only got worse. Jay Leno reduced West to tears on Monday night when he asked what his deceased mother would think of his behavior. Comedy Central played their infamous “Gay Fish” episode of South Park (in which West is repeatedly mocked by his inability to grasp the punch line of a simple joke) several times in a row on Tuesday. And even President Obama made an off-the-record comment about West being a “jackass” in an interview with CNBC.

Perhaps the backlash wouldn’t have been so violent if it weren’t for the ridiculous all-caps “apology” West posted on his blog, where he stated “I’M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM…SHE IS VERY TALENTED! I LIKE THE LYRICS ABOUT BEING A CHEERLEADER AND SHE’S IN THE BLEACHERS!” And as if he hadn’t presented enough insincerity, West went on to interrupt his own apology to say, “BEYONCÉ’S VIDEO WAS THE BEST OF THIS DECADE!!!!” The entry has since been deleted from the blog, but a quick Google search can lead any interested party to a screenshot of the full statement, exclamation points included.

But despite the hullabaloo that was raised at the VMAs, it seems to this writer that America made a big deal over something that was rather insignificant. Yes, it was inappropriate and downright mean for West to snatch the microphone from the hands of a 19-year-old girl who had just won her first moon-man, but it’s not as though the man shot a puppy or decided to start playing for the Minnesota Vikings. Even in all his ignorance, West has certainly by now realized that what he did was wrong, and has been quiet since the incident. What’s more is that he did eventually present a real apology to Swift, which she has since politely accepted.

Indeed, there is a possibility that some good will come out of the entire affair. Taylor Swift has surely proven herself to be a graceful young woman, and rather than being associated with arrogance and insensitivity, Beyoncé has reminded us why she is one of America’s sweethearts. It is this writer’s dearest wish that West has finally realized that he is not Jesus and his sunglasses do not make him look cool, and that he will keep his mouth shut until he has something intelligent to say.

Druschke is a English major and print journalism minor and a guest columnist for The Spectator.