Last month at the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West ambushed the stage and grabbed the microphone from singer Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video. West then launched into a contradictory rant congratulating while disparaging Swift, arguing that Best Female Video nominee Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” was “one of the best videos of all time.” Choruses of boos from the audience followed. Beyonce was clearly surprised. Almost instantly, the blogosphere went into overtime with millions of Americans weighing in on the episode. Public sentiment ran approximately 90 to 10 in Swift’s favor. Even President Barack Obama made his feelings known by referring to West as a “jackass.”
The next day, West made several mea culpas, the most notable one while appearing on comedian Jay Leno’s new NBC program where the nighttime host asked him about what his late mother would think of his behavior. The often brash, in-your-face rapper seemed reduced to tears. Some media observers were critical of Leno for bringing up the rapper’s late mother as they discussed the MTV incident. I saw no problem with Leno’s questions. Such an inquiry was most appropriate given the content of the interview.
While West was justifiably criticized for his foolish and unacceptable actions, what I found just as disturbing was the amount of racially charged criticism that flourished on Web sites. From YouTube to Free Republic to Yahoo to AOL, bigoted and anti-Black male commentary reared its poisonous head. Criticism of West ranged from being called a “Black a…hole who should be lynched” to other more incendiary terms that I cannot repeat here. Once again, I repeat that West deserved to be admonished for engaging in such unprofessional, bratty and juvenile behavior. But nonetheless, I was taken aback at the overt, ugly racism of more than a few bloggers. The level of racial animus was unacceptable. Such an acerbic climate reminded me of the bigoted comments made about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick when he was under fire for slaughtering dogs.
Like West, Vick deserved the criticism and punishment he received, but I still have to wonder if the level of intense outrage (one blogger wrote that the “Nigger” should be slaughtered and hung like those dogs were) was because of Vick’s race. When I read such posts, images of former Seinfeld star Michael Richards having a meltdown at the Laugh Factory Comedy Club a few years ago flashed through my mind.
