After a heated feud which unfolded over Twitter and television, talk-show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel has, unfortunately, capitulated to rapper Kanye West. In an interview with West on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel was apologetic and contrite.
Kimmel reassured West, in rather uncertain terms, that he respects him. “I’m often, in my own personal conversations, saying no—I know this guy, he’s not a jerk,” said Kimmel. “I know part of you doesn’t care—I see you on stage saying ‘I don’t want to hold your baby, I’ll drop your baby on its head’ and all of those things—I don’t believe you when you say it.” It was terribly awkward, and one wonders whether Kimmel was coerced into the concession.
West was surprisingly articulate—which means that he was only vaguely incoherent as opposed to totally. He expressed his humility with statements like “for me, I’m a creative genius, and there’s no other way to word it,” and revealed fascinating insights into his character such as “I spent two of my checks in telemarketing when I was 18 years old on a pair of Gucci slippers.”
West eventually launched into a breathless monologue about his fearlessness. “For me to say I wasn’t a genius, I would just be lying to you and myself.” To critics of Kim Kardashian: “People are so, so dated and not modern.”
Kimmel, now behaving like he was afraid to incur West’s ire, played a skit in which piano player Josh Groban sang some of West’s tweets. Kimmel rather pathetically asked West if he thought it was funny. West magnanimously said yes.
Kanye West then launched into his own rendition of Howard Roark’s speech about independence from The Fountainhead, declaring: “My mother made me believe in myself—no matter how many people tell me stop believing in yourself, stop seeing what you can do, stop affirming what you can do and completing it in real life…I refuse to follow those rules that society has set up and the way that they control people with low self-esteem!”
West, who is (in)famous for co-opting a fundraiser supporting Hurricane Katrina victims to declare that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” and for stealing a microphone from Taylor Swift after she had just won an award, discussed his frustration at the disrespect that he perceives as being heaped upon him. “The way paparazzi talk to me and my family is disrespectful also…I should be respected as such when I walk down the street…don’t try to antagonize me!”
“Let’s have respect for each other!” he implored the people. “It’s a lack of decency,” he whined.
West, strutting buffoon that he is, has managed to intimidate Jimmy Kimmel and force him to concede. Last week, I pointed out how the Kimmel/West feud mirrored the battle over the government shutdown. Here’s hoping that Republicans in Congress will not meet a similar embarrassing fate.
