Kanye West's Top Five Controversies

Since rising to fame in 2004 Kanye West has been no stranger to controversy. His recent antics at the VMAs once again caused the internet to buzz with outrage over his actions. It also created a new internet meme called Kanye Interrupts or Imma Let You Finish¹. With his newest politically incorrect stunt fresh in our minds, let's take a look back at the top five controversies Kanye West has created.

5. In 2006 Kanye released his video for "Touch the Sky". It featured him dressed in a daredevil costume trying to jump the Grand Canyon on a rocket. The character Kanye played in the video was even named Evel Kanyevel. The real Evel Kanievel, Robert Craig Knievel, was outraged over Kanye's blatant trademark infringement on his name and career. In 1974 Knievel had attempted to jump Idaho's Snake River Canyon on a rocket powered cycle. Robert Craig Knievel filed a lawsuit against Kanye West which was later settled out of court days before his death.²

4. The second controversy on list also involves "Touch the Sky". At the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards Kanye was nominated for best video. When Justice and Simian's "We Are Your Friends" was announced as the winner Kanye hopped on stage to rant. During an expletive filled rant he made statements such as "If I don't win, the awards show loses credibility".^3,4

3. Kanye's next awards show meltdown happened during a pre-VMA performance in 2007. That year Britney Spears was chosen to open the awards show and Kanye felt his song "Stronger" would have been a better choice. To show his annoyance Kanye did a free-style rap claiming he wasn't chosen to open, in part, because of his skin color.⁵

2. Next on the list is Kanye' most recent controversy at the 2009 VMAs. While Tayor Swift was giving her acceptance speech for Best Female Video Kanye got on stage and took the microphone from her. He then went into a rant about how Beyoncé's video was "one of the best videos of all time" and should have won. He was subsequently removed from the show and widely criticized for his actions. President Barack Obama is even reported to have called Kanye a "jackass".⁶

1. And the winner for number one spot on the list is Kanye's outburst during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina benefit concert. Kanye was presenting a pre-scripted speech along with actor Mike Meyers when he started to ad lib his part. After allowing Meyers to say his next part in the speech Kanye went completely of script by saying "George Bush doesn't care about black people". His microphone was immediately shut off and the cameras moved on to actor Chris Tucker.⁷

Having only been in the spotlight for 5 years and causing more than that many controversies it seems safe to assume we will be seeing many more from Kanye in the future.

¹ knowyourmeme.com/memes/kanye-interrupts-imma-let-you-finish
²www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1212061evel1.html
³www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227304,00.html
⁴www.youtube.com/watch
⁵www.mtv.com/videos/news/174453/kanye-west-thinks-he-should-have-opened-the-vmas.jhtml
⁶www.phillyd.tv/2009/09/13/kanye-west-disrespects/
⁷www.youtube.com/watch