At this point, awards shows should probably start banning Kanye West. That of course will never happen, because the guy is a rating powerhouse and a prime draw for Millennial viewers. His “Imma let you finish, but…” fake-out when Beck won the Grammy for Album of the Year on Sunday, was humorous – and really awkward – but he showed his true childish colors when he gave an interview with E! criticizing Beck, saying that Beyonce was more deserving.
“[The Grammys] If they want real artists to come back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain’t gonna play with them no more. Flawless, Beyoncé video, and Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyoncé.”
Beck handled the situation with a lot more dignity – though he had every right to tell Kanye to go f*** off — and expressed his excitement about Kaney rushing up to the stage.
“I was just so excited he was coming up. He deserves to be on stage as much as anybody,” Beck said when asked how he felt about West crashing the stage. “How many great records has he put out in the last five years right?”
Too nice, Beck. Waaaay too nice. 90s alternative pal Shirley Manson, the lead singer of Garbage wasn’t so nice and gave Kanye a piece of her mind via a post on her Facebook page.
So, I’ll say it again: When are awards shows going to start banning Kanye? Inviting an artist who has a reputation of disrespecting other artists at the awards show, brings the show, themselves, and their craft down. I suspect that if a less popular artist had a history of this sort of juvenile behavior they would find themselves blacklisted from the industry altogether. (Just ask David Allen Coe when the last time he was invited to the Country Music Association Awards.)
I suspect that Kanye won’t be banned from the Grammys or VMAs or any other awards show, simply because he’s so popular and awards show organizers are worried the party might be a little less cool without him around.
Will he change his behavior, take Shirley Manson’s advice and stop acting like “a complete twat?” I’m pretty doubtful of that too. When you’ve got an entourage of “yes men” who tell you to forget the haters, your ego tends to go unchecked. Maybe it’s time though, that Kanye start listening a little more to the haters.