Kanye West: The presidential bashing just keeps coming

First it was President Obama, who made headlines with his blunt assessment of Kanye West's boorish behavior at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, calling the hip-hop star a "jackass." (Even though there was an orgy of hand-wringing in media circles about whether ABC's Terry Moran should have Twittered the president's off-the-record quip, I always thought the real story was -- what is Obama doing watching the hopelessly tacky VMAs in the first place?)

But now Kanye is in trouble with another Oval Office occupant, former President Jimmy Carter, who, speaking at a town hall meeting at Emory University, called West's behavior "completely uncalled-for" and, showing off a surprisingly dry sense of humor, added that "his punishment was to appear on the new Jay Leno show."

I'm betting that before the week is over, our other living ex-presidents will feel obligated to comment on the controversy in their own special way:

George W. Bush: "Kanye West? Isn't that the guy who wrote 'My Pet Goat?' "

Bill Clinton: "I don't know about Kanye, but I sure would like to have some hush puppies with Amber Rose." 

George H. W. Bush: "Never read 'My Pet Goat,' but I think a just punishment for Mr. West would be to read the damn book on 'Oprah' and see if he ever has any street cred afterward."

Photo: Kayne West. Credit: Jason Szenes / European Pressphoto Agency.

Comments

[Colin]

I love the earlier comment who actually thought the joke about Kanye going to Patrick Swayze's funeral and interrupting it actually happened... Facebook LOL!

[janea]

kanye west was already scheduled to appear on the jay leno show. his being on the show was in no relation to what happened at the VMAs. what he did was really stupid, but it was more than made up for at the end of the show by beyonce. who cares, it's not like this award means anything.
mtv spent all this money on the show production and the "celebrities" were wearing thousands of dollars of clothes and jewelry, but people in this country are still starving, homeless, and uninsured.

whats the bigger story here?

[Frank]

I Googled the whole thing and watched a Youtube cut of West on Leno. Long story short: he pulled off a very sincere apology. He was moving and distraught. Call me old fashioned but that counts. I have never been a star and will likely never have Kanye West kind upstage me in my proudest moment. Maybe this is the next great love story flick! Black, angry, star (in movie) insults cute, Country Music star (in movie), ensues in a series of contacts and phone calls.. ending in LOVE! Obama appears in film as country music girl's adoptive dad! Whole thing is crazy. It's so crazy it just might work!

[Jan]

Kanye West…

Though his name pops up in the news from time to time,

always for some outrageous antics,

he continues to be the most famous guy I never heard of.

[HDS]

As far as being a jackass is concerned, it takes one to know one!

[(what is Obama doing watching the hopelessly tacky VMAs in the first place?)]

Oh! I guess Obama cant watch TV and when he does, it can only be the most classiest of shows right?

[Kish]

The Presidents assessment was correct. An average Joe response.

Kanye is a runt. The last thing he said worth hearing was to the last President about Black folks in New Orleans.

[SupaSpam58]

totally lost respect for kanye hes a jack*ss and the hair design he had on head looks like the carpet i wipe my feet on.
god forbid he goes without attention for five minutes

[cheesynaps]

kanye’s music is genious. period. his lyrics are amazing. his beats have been used or sampled by nearly every major artist in hip hop today and he has played a hand in the production of nearly every major record in that genre that’s been produced in the last five years. that being said, he was COMPLETELY out of line with what he did and has been in all of the so called stunts that he has pulled. but to say that because of his character flaws, he should be blacklisted from music and no person should ever listen to things he plays a hand in is way to harsh and it would cripple the music industry because of the significant role that hip hop, rap, and kanye play in it. a good analogy would be to say that simply because Fox News thinks that all racism is a huge joke, that no one should ever watch their programs.

[the armenian]

theres a huge list of very famous people that have been bashing kanye left n right. At first I felt he deserved it but now hes acting like a little you know what and just taking some major heat, even 50 cent said hed give kanye a black eye. So I think kanye should come out and just give everyone the finger for baggin him so much over a big MISTAKE