Politico had this story in the entire Kanye West-Taylor Swift issue: off-the-record, Obama called West a jackass. Perhaps after a summer of strife, this is Obama’s way of uniting us over something we can all agree upon.
(post continues below)
Nothing has been confirmed by the White House, but this is reportedly how it all went down: CNBC was interviewing Obama. During the moments that are supposed to be “off the record”–remember Newt Gingrich’s mother and Connie Chung–the Swift-West business came up. Perhaps in a moment of unguarded candor, Obama called West a ‘jackass’.
Is this Obama’s Sister Souljah moment? Maybe, because Terry Moran at ABC News tweeted it! This caused an uproar, and ABC had to release this statement:
In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview. This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.
Still unclear: how did ABC News have access to off-the-record remarks in a CNBC interview?
File this under “calling a spade a spade” – which hurts to say, because I have always loved Kanye; my Wikipedia portrait of him (above) is in my top ten favorites. His music had a deep impact on me in 2006.
But my stomach turned as I watched Taylor Swift have her moment taken away from her. It was…just horrible to witness.
Dammit Kanye! Why do you make it so difficult to love you?
Making out in public – good or bad?
Obama Condoms in Union Square
New York City – water shots 3
RNC characterizes Republican base as ‘Reactionary’ and ‘Ego-Driven’
Celebrities and downtown denizens salute 25 years of Michael Musto
Is it okay to be fat? A response to Nightline
Submission, domination and pop culture
Woman tweets her abortion
Twitter: peteforsyth
says:
So, you don’t think the thing was staged? Both artists had TV appearances coming up within 24 hrs after the awards show…I wouldn’t put it past MTV.
Twitter: davidshankbone
says:
I don’t think it was staged at all. There was no humor, no redeeming value in it, unlike the Bruno/Eminem thing. You have the President remarking upon it. On the off-chance it was staged, if that information ever came to light it would have severe repercussions for MTV – people don’t like feeling “had”, at least, not when it’s their sympathy you are messing with.
Not staged. Even though we agree that West is an asshole, he’d have to be an even bigger one to do that to Taylor Swift who is what – a 19 year old girl? Did you see the look on her face?
Twitter: peteforsyth
says:
Eleanor, Swift wouldn’t have had to be in on it…
Okay though, I will back off on the specific speculation, because that’s really all it is. But here are the things that stick out to me:
* Kanye West strikes me as someone who thinks strategically like he breathes.
* Kanye West is a performer — he knows the meaning of pulling a mic out of someone’s hand intimately. I could believe a non-performer doing something like that without thinking, not recognizing the impact it would have. Not so with anyone so entrenched in the world of entertainment.
* Kanye West was on the debut of Leno’s debut the next night, and the ratings were through the roof.
So, I don’t know what sort of intent or planning there was, but I’m pretty sure there was some. It just doesn’t have the je ne sais quois of a truly spontaneous moment.
Good point about Swift, Pete. To me that makes your theory much more plausible. Do you think that West’s crying on Leno was part of it too?
The Wikipedia article you linked to, David, says that a Sister Souljah moment is when the criticism is directed towards a person or group perceived to have some association with the politician or their party. I don’t doubt that Kanye votes Democrat, but I don’t see how he could be perceived as being associated in any way with them memetically, or with Obama.
Twitter: davidshankbone
says:
Hi Luigi. Don’t forget that Bill Clinton wasn’t associated with Sister Souljah or hip hop; instead, he was associated with African-Americans as a demographic. His repudiation of Souljah’s lyrics was seen as admonishment of that demographic.
Kanye West is a bogeyman of the right–”George Bush doesn’t care about black people”–but he was also a big supporter of Barack Obama, and Obama himself had said he uses hip-hop to connect to a segment of his electorate. That’s why I made the comparison.