See the awkward exchange with NBC’s Matt Lauer that caused Kanye to get heated and take to his Twitter account.
37 thoughts on “Kanye West – Today Show Interview”
It is true what Lauer said that they usually play videos of the said incident when they ask the interviewee about a specific incident, but Ye’s reaction also opened eyes about how media has an agenda in sensationalizing an event to polarize its audience via emotional reaction rather than letting the audience rationalize the situation without emotion.
..but isn’t what kanye said originally propaganda too? “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”? that is calling him a racist, irrelevant to what anyone else says above. Kanye admitted that he called him a racist.. American governments just don’t learn, everything I’ve heard from kanye apart from his music is crap.. talking about gentrification and the social values america was built on.. he can’t be serious.. he must be worth atleast a couple hundred mil..
that’s just a tool used by broadcasters to keep everyone in the loop, if someone was watching w/their sound off (dumb but it happens) they’d know kanye was being asked about the MTV incident. And bc it gets boring looking at the same person for 7 minutes, you need video to space it out. That was petty on Kanye’s part.
There’s a couple of issues I want to speak on here:
First, the airing of the video while asking him. Yes, its their protocal but at the same time Kanye is a very distracted individual. Remember during the MTV interview with Sway he asked for them to turn off the background noise. Kanye wants to put all of his focus on his responses because his reasoning for doing so is completley true. Everything he says is posted all over the web constantly. So for him, word choice, cadence, body language, etc are all very important due to being scrutinized so harshly and he notices the need to focus on it and eliminate distractions. Kanye needs a lack of distractions in order to do that. One of the first laws of interviewing should be that interviewers should know their interviewee.
Second, in regards to “George Bush doesn’t care about Black People.” I never saw this as a rasist statement. What he meant was George Bush doesn’t care about people with no money because what got destroyed the most after Hurricane Katrina? The impoverished neighnorhoods.
Third, Taylor Swift. I don’t understand why the world jumped on him so bad after this incident as bad as they did. Sure it was incentive to ruin another person’s moment but to call him a racist? I saw this event then the same way that I do now. Think of it like this. On these blogs many of us scream and yell that the music that we prefer is being overshadowed by another form that we would consider “crap.” I’m just as guilty of it as anyone else. The point is that Kanye is an impulsive human being. He felt the need to jump out in his head as we do but he jumped on out of his seat and ran to the stage to do it. Kanye never holds anything back. It’s why you love him and its why you hate him.
-D-Money
Juice Radio Music Director (www.gojuiceradio.com)
I disagree with your first paragraph. Kanye was a guest on the show yes…. but they shouldn’t have rearrange their furniture (figuratively speaking) to make their guests comfortable. Noone should get preferential treatment, they should know what they are getting into when they accept the interview. And something like playing a recap video while the guest is talking is such a minor detail that nobody would even think twice abou it offending somebody.
No show should have to deviate from their format to accommodate a guest. It is was makes them unique.
You make some valid points. Your second statement was spot on. However, making comments about people without being able to back them up is childish, and in my opinion, Kanye looked like a scared little kid when he couldn’t effectively defend his statements. We can agree that Kanye has insecurity issues and his inability to defend his statements embarrassed him; however, due to his ego, he was unwilling to admit his mistake. I think Kanye is brilliant at times, but his childish behavior of always playing a victim when challenged effectively is getting old. Kanye, if you can’t defend your statements or actions effectively, don’t whine about it, be an adult and apologize.
is G.W. Bush a racist?
Republicans at election time-with their conservative entertainment subsidiary news networks work hard to discredit voters in urban area’s which are predominantly “black†or not “whiteâ€. As they do accuse and attack minorities as Sarah Palin tried pigeonholing Barack Obama as a Muslim in election 08′, as she knows a population of whites fear Muslims and will vote against him because of it, or Sharon Angle of Nevada who is also a Republican with her racist campaign commercials about immigration which aired this past season. Or the republican Governor in Arizona wanting all immigrants out of her state. Lets not forget President Bushes right wing Christian political party- the “Republicans†who discredit voters in housing projects, attempted to ruin Acorn in smear campaigns to be certain Democrats lose in the elections and imposing a opinion on the public which paints a base of voters for “Obama†as welfare recipients. And G.W. Bush doesn’t know how his party runs their campaigns? He funds them. G.W. Bush cares? At some point you have to make it seem like you do. Does anybody remember G.W. Bush insulting John McCain for having a black child? I do- so does John McCain’s daughter. xoxo MikeAlike (independent recording artist)
Kanye was tryin to express his personal thoughts and insecurities about the situations. They had no right to disrespect him by interrupting his explanations while trying to make him look like an inconsiderate douche bag. Fuck the media.
kanye need to stop lovin on the way his farts smell, what makes this dude so special that he deserves special treatment…stick to the music kanye cause u are not a speaker…when i see ur chipmunk lookin ass i wanna punch u in the face… lookin like u hiding nuts in ur mouth, probably ur own cuz u riding ur own dick haaaaaaaaard
wtf is the today show ? jus a bunch of ppl tht give information in the wrong light i guess. its like they already knew how they shud make kanye look. like a ” bad guy ” kanye was clearly trying to apologize for the timing of the statement not the statement itself but they made it seem as if he was jus bitchin away frm his comment. making him look weak and defeated while bush looks like the better person…smh. kanye west *respect
I tgink matt lauer showed everyone he’s a racist, the today show were obviously trying to portray kanye as the bad guy and bush as the victim, I actually appreciate kanye for standing up to bush, maybe thats what us americans lack, some balls to stand up to our government when you can see things are not right, remember we wouldnt be in this mess if it wasnt for bush and his staff, but we are so stupid and naive that after we fall in the biggest ecomomic meltdown, people have lost everything jobs, houses, and slowly our freedom, the main person to have caused this takes out a book and people rush to buy it, thats humiliating to say we can be very stupid most of the time, the media are the new age da vincis they can paint any picture they want theycan make the good look bad and the bad look good because they know we’re idiots and they can control how we view things. Nontheless no excuse for the whole award shit he pulled off but on the bush issue dont ever regret it or apologize for it west, you did what most of us wouldn’t.
Totally agree bush whos started these wars no says kanye is very mean and ugly, he needs to be more sensitive and sweet!! Whats up with these people and by the way eminem emenim is the best hip hop artist and im prob. his biggest fan but if I remember right he called bush the devil even made a video to show how he felt about bush but matt nor bush are speaking about that now are they instead he was praised on 60 minutes for changing the way he view things and admitting he made mistakes but when kanye is facing his regrets thet view it as his weakest point in his life now lets rush and try to make a fool out of him but instead matt and today show I think this rebounded in your faces you guys showed us your true faces
It kills me to see that the media continually brings up stuff from way back when because an incompetent former president writes a memoir. This is the problem with the media: they rehash “news” over and over again. Seriously, all major media outlets, let things go and report on more important issues we’re currently facing. Thanks!
I think the most ironic thing about this interview taken place is, the idea that, I think, the nations impression of Bush has changed since then. An yet the Kanye bit makes him out to be a pawn in it all, which is unfortunate because I feel what he spoke was the truth of the moment when he spoke, but in retrospect, our impression has shifted – at least mine has
i’m pretty sure Kanye’s sorry for his actions BUT he knows in his mind that what he did was “right” most people felt/thought the same way Kanye did during that time, he just vocied it, diffrences is that he was live world wide….. i dont like news channels anyway, there just there to market a story, shit if Kanye wasnt who he was what would they have been talking about that day? he gave them views($money$) and they lash out at him while still knowing he’s to preform a show for them weeks later? get out of here!! fake ass people playing there role… im behind Kanye 100%
what the hell is wrong with that host. they so want to make Kanye say something he doesn’t mean. with the Bush’s face and stuff, did you think you were gonna make him cry? also saying he is sorry for him. he’s the former president, not god. and people have the right to say whatever they want, Kanye just tells his opinion in front of a bigger audience. medias are really trying to distort information, and it’s starting to get really frustrating.
It is true what Lauer said that they usually play videos of the said incident when they ask the interviewee about a specific incident, but Ye’s reaction also opened eyes about how media has an agenda in sensationalizing an event to polarize its audience via emotional reaction rather than letting the audience rationalize the situation without emotion.
Thats well said. Lol propaganda at its best…
..but isn’t what kanye said originally propaganda too? “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”? that is calling him a racist, irrelevant to what anyone else says above. Kanye admitted that he called him a racist.. American governments just don’t learn, everything I’ve heard from kanye apart from his music is crap.. talking about gentrification and the social values america was built on.. he can’t be serious.. he must be worth atleast a couple hundred mil..
LMAO, the media so coercive this is great, and props to Ye for handling it like that.
thatz why hip hop was made 2 b the voice of the hood and black people.
that’s just a tool used by broadcasters to keep everyone in the loop, if someone was watching w/their sound off (dumb but it happens) they’d know kanye was being asked about the MTV incident. And bc it gets boring looking at the same person for 7 minutes, you need video to space it out. That was petty on Kanye’s part.
I like how Kanye handled himself right here…he is so himself
tha was very condescending matt lauer. Kanye west isn’t your 8 year old son who kicked the neighbor’s dog. That was so condescending!
Haha Matt Lauer is a beast!!
I THINK KANYE HANDLED IT WELL. BUT HONESTLY IF I WAS KANYE I WOULDN’T EXPLAIN MYSELF TO PEOPLE.
I don’t mean to be confrontational, but why? Don’t you think people should be responsible to defend their opinions?
talkking about when he made kanye watch bushes video without the audio. Was that necessary?
Do not fuck with Matt Lauer or Chris Hansen. Real talk. They will fuck up your life.
There’s a couple of issues I want to speak on here:
First, the airing of the video while asking him. Yes, its their protocal but at the same time Kanye is a very distracted individual. Remember during the MTV interview with Sway he asked for them to turn off the background noise. Kanye wants to put all of his focus on his responses because his reasoning for doing so is completley true. Everything he says is posted all over the web constantly. So for him, word choice, cadence, body language, etc are all very important due to being scrutinized so harshly and he notices the need to focus on it and eliminate distractions. Kanye needs a lack of distractions in order to do that. One of the first laws of interviewing should be that interviewers should know their interviewee.
Second, in regards to “George Bush doesn’t care about Black People.” I never saw this as a rasist statement. What he meant was George Bush doesn’t care about people with no money because what got destroyed the most after Hurricane Katrina? The impoverished neighnorhoods.
Third, Taylor Swift. I don’t understand why the world jumped on him so bad after this incident as bad as they did. Sure it was incentive to ruin another person’s moment but to call him a racist? I saw this event then the same way that I do now. Think of it like this. On these blogs many of us scream and yell that the music that we prefer is being overshadowed by another form that we would consider “crap.” I’m just as guilty of it as anyone else. The point is that Kanye is an impulsive human being. He felt the need to jump out in his head as we do but he jumped on out of his seat and ran to the stage to do it. Kanye never holds anything back. It’s why you love him and its why you hate him.
-D-Money
Juice Radio Music Director (www.gojuiceradio.com)
I disagree with your first paragraph. Kanye was a guest on the show yes…. but they shouldn’t have rearrange their furniture (figuratively speaking) to make their guests comfortable. Noone should get preferential treatment, they should know what they are getting into when they accept the interview. And something like playing a recap video while the guest is talking is such a minor detail that nobody would even think twice abou it offending somebody.
No show should have to deviate from their format to accommodate a guest. It is was makes them unique.
D-Money,
You make some valid points. Your second statement was spot on. However, making comments about people without being able to back them up is childish, and in my opinion, Kanye looked like a scared little kid when he couldn’t effectively defend his statements. We can agree that Kanye has insecurity issues and his inability to defend his statements embarrassed him; however, due to his ego, he was unwilling to admit his mistake. I think Kanye is brilliant at times, but his childish behavior of always playing a victim when challenged effectively is getting old. Kanye, if you can’t defend your statements or actions effectively, don’t whine about it, be an adult and apologize.
So True
Am i the only person that’s noticed this? Pause the video at 6:24. Spell the guy’s name correct please!
Fuck the Today show and matt lauer. Kanye handled the best he could though. What a dick move on their part.
I RESPECT KANYE HE HURT DEM NIKKAZ FEELINZ NOW DEY TRYNA MAKE KANYE LOOK BAD N STUFF… TYPIL BREAKDOWN THE BLACK MAN STUFF
is G.W. Bush a racist?
Republicans at election time-with their conservative entertainment subsidiary news networks work hard to discredit voters in urban area’s which are predominantly “black†or not “whiteâ€. As they do accuse and attack minorities as Sarah Palin tried pigeonholing Barack Obama as a Muslim in election 08′, as she knows a population of whites fear Muslims and will vote against him because of it, or Sharon Angle of Nevada who is also a Republican with her racist campaign commercials about immigration which aired this past season. Or the republican Governor in Arizona wanting all immigrants out of her state. Lets not forget President Bushes right wing Christian political party- the “Republicans†who discredit voters in housing projects, attempted to ruin Acorn in smear campaigns to be certain Democrats lose in the elections and imposing a opinion on the public which paints a base of voters for “Obama†as welfare recipients. And G.W. Bush doesn’t know how his party runs their campaigns? He funds them. G.W. Bush cares? At some point you have to make it seem like you do. Does anybody remember G.W. Bush insulting John McCain for having a black child? I do- so does John McCain’s daughter. xoxo MikeAlike (independent recording artist)
Kanye was tryin to express his personal thoughts and insecurities about the situations. They had no right to disrespect him by interrupting his explanations while trying to make him look like an inconsiderate douche bag. Fuck the media.
It’s fucking Ridiculous. ha
kanye need to stop lovin on the way his farts smell, what makes this dude so special that he deserves special treatment…stick to the music kanye cause u are not a speaker…when i see ur chipmunk lookin ass i wanna punch u in the face… lookin like u hiding nuts in ur mouth, probably ur own cuz u riding ur own dick haaaaaaaaard
wtf is the today show ? jus a bunch of ppl tht give information in the wrong light i guess. its like they already knew how they shud make kanye look. like a ” bad guy ” kanye was clearly trying to apologize for the timing of the statement not the statement itself but they made it seem as if he was jus bitchin away frm his comment. making him look weak and defeated while bush looks like the better person…smh. kanye west *respect
I tgink matt lauer showed everyone he’s a racist, the today show were obviously trying to portray kanye as the bad guy and bush as the victim, I actually appreciate kanye for standing up to bush, maybe thats what us americans lack, some balls to stand up to our government when you can see things are not right, remember we wouldnt be in this mess if it wasnt for bush and his staff, but we are so stupid and naive that after we fall in the biggest ecomomic meltdown, people have lost everything jobs, houses, and slowly our freedom, the main person to have caused this takes out a book and people rush to buy it, thats humiliating to say we can be very stupid most of the time, the media are the new age da vincis they can paint any picture they want theycan make the good look bad and the bad look good because they know we’re idiots and they can control how we view things. Nontheless no excuse for the whole award shit he pulled off but on the bush issue dont ever regret it or apologize for it west, you did what most of us wouldn’t.
Totally agree bush whos started these wars no says kanye is very mean and ugly, he needs to be more sensitive and sweet!! Whats up with these people and by the way eminem emenim is the best hip hop artist and im prob. his biggest fan but if I remember right he called bush the devil even made a video to show how he felt about bush but matt nor bush are speaking about that now are they instead he was praised on 60 minutes for changing the way he view things and admitting he made mistakes but when kanye is facing his regrets thet view it as his weakest point in his life now lets rush and try to make a fool out of him but instead matt and today show I think this rebounded in your faces you guys showed us your true faces
It kills me to see that the media continually brings up stuff from way back when because an incompetent former president writes a memoir. This is the problem with the media: they rehash “news” over and over again. Seriously, all major media outlets, let things go and report on more important issues we’re currently facing. Thanks!
I think the most ironic thing about this interview taken place is, the idea that, I think, the nations impression of Bush has changed since then. An yet the Kanye bit makes him out to be a pawn in it all, which is unfortunate because I feel what he spoke was the truth of the moment when he spoke, but in retrospect, our impression has shifted – at least mine has
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kanye like a lil bitch in this video, bout to cry n shit… get a grip dude!
i meant “how do you have”
Media is a buncha a fucking idiots,, they will always get the last word, and the nigga Ye didnt apoligize. That was a wack move im glad Ye spoke up
notice how they deliberately misspelled his name at 6:24
i’m pretty sure Kanye’s sorry for his actions BUT he knows in his mind that what he did was “right” most people felt/thought the same way Kanye did during that time, he just vocied it, diffrences is that he was live world wide….. i dont like news channels anyway, there just there to market a story, shit if Kanye wasnt who he was what would they have been talking about that day? he gave them views($money$) and they lash out at him while still knowing he’s to preform a show for them weeks later? get out of here!! fake ass people playing there role… im behind Kanye 100%
Today show sucks anyway. keep ya head up kanye
what the hell is wrong with that host. they so want to make Kanye say something he doesn’t mean. with the Bush’s face and stuff, did you think you were gonna make him cry? also saying he is sorry for him. he’s the former president, not god. and people have the right to say whatever they want, Kanye just tells his opinion in front of a bigger audience. medias are really trying to distort information, and it’s starting to get really frustrating.