By the time I publish this, the news could be too old to make the point. On Friday September 3, 2005, NBC aired a live special to help raise funds for Hurricane Relief. Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Harry Connick, Jr., and Aaron Neville performed in between celebrities’ pleas to the American public to dig into its ample pockets to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Celebrities read from a teleprompter desperate statistics of the American Red Cross’s efforts to rescue and relieve. Most of the celebrities were appropriately and solemnly dressed in black blazer; neat and somewhat nicer than street clothes. Then comes Kayne West with Mike Myers. Mike wore the aforementioned black blazer. Mr. West was wearing a trashy striped rugby jersey. I could tell already that we could expect nothing but disrespec’ from this trouble maker. (I read up on him, and apparently, he’s the one responsible for making popular the annoying and, I think, plagiaristic, practice of trying to make hip hop more legit by ripping off other people’s hit songs and sticking them in the middle of the hip hop stuff that I just don’t get---sorry, folks, maybe it’s cuz I’m Scandinavian by heritage. I can neither get down nor jump.)
Back to the telethon. On cue, Mike Myers read seriously from the prompter. Then it was Kayne’s turn. It was immediately obvious that he was not going to read from the teleprompter. Here are some of the things he said: Whenever we see a black man on television, they’re looting. And all the white people are shown helping people. I’m going to talk to my business manager and see how much I can give. (What, and still keep your Hummer and bling?) Then he said something about the Bush administration not helping black people.
Mike Myers remained admirably composed, although, I think I did see fear in his eyes. Just as I was beginning to think they were never going shut the troglodyte up, it was Mike’s turn again, who dutifully read from the teleprompter, trying to salvage the wreck. Ah, but our esteemed grammy winner was not done yet. He got in one more sentence before they finally switched cameras to a startled, improvising Chris Carter. His last words (and hopefully the last words he’s EVER allowed to say live) were, “George Bush hates black people.”
I’ve been thinking about exactly why this bothered me for a few days now and I’ve come to this conclusion. I hate when people push their own political agendas in inappropriate forums. Mr. West’s behavior was self serving and inflammatory.
One event that stars are notorious for abusing happens early each Spring in LaLa Land: the Academy Awards. Celebrities, understand this: you are receiving an award for outstanding achievement in FILMMAKING, not for raising social awareness.
If you want to say your peace, write a blog!
End of Sermon.
17 comments:
Thanks to TiVo, Todd and I have relived Kanye's moment again and again, laughing harder each time be bumbles out, "President Bush hates black people." I just wish I had had the sense to TiVo 2004's MTV music video awards where Kanye didn't win in the catagory he was nominated for so he went up anyway and chewed everyone out for not picking him....hmmm....his lack of censorship sounds chronic.
I had no idea he was a repeat offender! What an @#$%^&!
See, I had the courtesy to censor myself.
I support any blog that publishes pics of Satcheen Littlefeather. Great!
PS. Kanye is a tool.
Kanye is a tool. But Tim Robbins is cool and I wish he had a blog.
Satcheen Littlefeather aka Maria Cruz.
I'm glad the response to this latest posting has been so positive (ie you all agree with me). I was afraid I'd gotten too political.
Oh yeah, I also think Tim Robbins is a fabulous actor. But perhaps a bit liberal for my tastes. And now I'm getting political again.
And I thought it would just be another boring telethon with celebrities I didn't recognize. OK, so I know Mike Myers? Now I wish I had tuned in. Sounds exciting!
P.S. I see your quote from Atlas Shrugged. I'm reading it right now... and probably will be for another month or so...and I'm a FAST reader! But I'm alikin' it. :)
I'm actually on page 89. I suspect I'll finish some time next year. Yeah, I like it, too. James Taggart is lame and I want to be Dagny.
I have a friend who named her little girl Dagny. It's cool for Dagny in the book, but not so cool in real life.
I love Kanye. He's important. He says lots of important things. He's thought about important things and now can share those important thoughts with the rest of us.
Here are two things that I love about Kanye:
1.)He has written a song about how diamonds are mined by enslaved children in Sierra Leone, how diamonds are the root of some rather nasty civil wars in West Africa, and how these "blood diamonds" should make us feel guilty.
2.) Kanye wears lots of diamonds.
I thought his comments on the show were great. Any time someone mixes up a planned event, I love it. I loved Soy Bomb too.
(Hi,I., found you off of Topher's blog.)
Carrie Ann- Yeah, little baby Dagny doesn't quite work. It's like someone was a fan of Scooby Doo but couldn't decide who they liked better: Daphne or Shaggy.
Yes, Carina. I perhaps have misjudged the Tool, I mean, the Right Honorable Mr. West. I guess he's just putting his money where his mouth is.
Wow! You are one popular woman! I suppose if I had friends they would comment on my posts, too. Ha! Ha! Anyway, I missed the telethon (due to lack of stations on my antenna), but it is always more fun to hear about these priceless celeb moments from you. Miss you!
Leelee
Here that, everyone?
Visit my Sistah's blog!
My popularity is nothing compared to The Jolly Porter's!
I get uncomfortable when celebs take advantage of the spotlight. I think it is rude to the audience. But, they are citizens and have an opinion. We blog because we are not famous. They are just using the resources they have. So I am a little unsure. I do think that we should all realize that they are just one person with one opinion. Just like everyone else.
During the telethon I heard Chris Tucker say that Pres. Bush hates midgets. That was rude and insensitive to little people and Mr. Bush. What happened to courtesy? Don't these people have mothers? I think there is an appropriate way to air grievances, one that fosters dialogue and truth which leads to understanding.
The unfair attack that Kanye makes against Mr. Bush does shows a perception by him and others that white people hate black people. We need to find out why people feel the way they do.
p.s. I got here through the ever so popular Jolly Porter
Glad you found me!
I missed the Chris Carter comment.
I just think that if celebs want to voice their opinions in larger forums that they are privy to, they should maybe hold a press conference, or speak at a political rally. Appropriate forums.
In this Mtv world of sound bites, it's near impossible to get to the bottom of things. Even the talk radio I mostly agree with gets way one sided and out of hand. I don't know if I can trust when people get fanatical.
I used to like the talk radio opinion guys. I felt that they had a different point of view. That is just it, though, they are just different to be different. I have realized that they are not helping the situation. They are just complaining. They blow everything out of proportion so that you will get frightened and listen to them tomorrow. Everyone is so touchy and polarized these days. It is easy to see this in the right wing talk show guys, but as you pointed out in this post the left wingers are very polarized as well.
I want to be Dagny for Halloween. What do you think I should wear? My husband says I am not allowed to do that unless I finish the book first. Only 200 pages to go!
So, will you all think that much less of me if I name my next child "Dagny"? I think it's kind of cute. But, then what happens if she grows up to be a real pansy?
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