CNN
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Kanye West has had so many controversies that you may have overlooked a few.
From his infamous interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards to his early embrace of former President Trump and his “Make America Great Again” program, the artist, designer and entrepreneur is perhaps best known for being a provocateur.
The latest calls to cancel West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, are perhaps the most intense yet.
After wearing and showcasing “White Lives Matter” clothing (the Anti-Defamation League classifies the phrase as a “hate slogan” used by white supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan) at her recent fashion show in Paris, there was a new outcry against Ouest.
“Kanye’s actions are so dangerous and irresponsible. I don’t care how good his music is, we need to stop supporting someone who uses their platform in such an irresponsible way,” said Marc Lamont Hill, TV host, teacher and former CNN social media commentator.
Another lightning rod came earlier this week, when West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were restricted for breaching policies following posts criticized as anti-Semitic. A few days later, it was announced that his episode of the YouTube series “The Shop: Uninterrupted” would not be released because he used his appearance “to reiterate more hate speech and very ugly stereotypes”.
This has led some to suggest West’s career crashed and burned and there is no coming back from it all. But here’s why that’s not necessarily the case:
Despite all the talk of ‘cancel culture’, we now live in a time when bad behavior, especially by public figures, sparks outrage – until it’s not. .
Not only do we live in a society that goes fairly quickly from scandal to scandal, but racism and cruelty towards others no longer live in the shadows.
So while many people have condemned West for his actions and comments, there are many who support both because they agree with him.
Then there is the fame factor.
Star power has only grown in recent years, not least because social media fosters a sense of intimacy between artists and their followers.
“West’s celebrity status has kept us watching and listening primarily because we are acutely aware that so many others are paying attention as well,” Washington Post senior reviewer Robin Givhan wrote recently.
“And every time he says something indecipherable or cruel, we recoil like we’re shocked again, like he wasn’t terrible before,” she continued. “We respond as if we think fame is preventative behavior to terrible behavior, that those who know they are being watched will seek to perform their best behavior rather than use all that attention as an incentive to move on. deed.”
West has been very clear about his admiration for Trump, and the two men seem to share an approach to communication.
West recently said in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he “really started to feel this need to express himself on another level when Trump was running for office and I liked him. “.
West said he was warned against supporting Trump, saying people at Carlson told him “my career would be over, my life would be over.”
Instead, West has gained new fans from some of the same people who also support the former president.
After the curator author and LAW! for America founder Brigitte Gabriel tweeted her support for West, one of his followers replied, “I was judging him quite harshly. I find a new respect for him now.
We have long wondered if we could embrace art without supporting the artist. West has a habit of coming out on the winning side of this question.
There were calls for a boycott of West in 2018 after comments he made about the history of slavery in the United States.
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years,” West said in an interview with TMZ. “For 400 years? It looks like a choice.
Yet, a month later, all seven tracks from his album “Ye” debuted in Billboard’s Top 40.
There have been several other controversies since that haven’t stopped West from enjoying massive success with his fashion and sneaker lines.
And while West ended his relationship with Gap in September and Adidas put its partnership with him under review, he entered the public consciousness nearly two decades ago thanks to music to which the people will likely keep coming back.
In retrospect, West’s first words on his debut hit, “Through the Wire,” were perhaps prescient: “They can’t stop me from rapping, can they? »