The Gall and the Gumption

The 'Interupting Kanye' meme amuses me. As it does many other people.

What is it about it that has engaged with so many people and united us in shared outrage and agastness?

1. It's Black. It's White.

A lot of people are secretly always looking for reasons to moan about the bad manners of rap and hip hoppers. Rascals. This interaction created a great clashing of the stereotpyes - angry, drunk black man vs pure young country-singing white girl. You can't get a better victim. She's like the virgin in a horror movie.


2. Awkward Silence.

If Taylor Swift had laughed or made some witty remark once she got the mic back, it would've gone down as a weird and wacky moment, but the look of shock on her face once her moment of glory had been stolen and her feeling of recognition ripped away.... that made it unfunny.


It's like the kid who's got an icecream cone .... only a big bully had come and knocked it right off the cone, picked it up and spat on it, then plopped it back and said, 'Here you go - enjoy!'


It's just mean. Bully.


Brain Can't Think Ahead. Shiny Things.


Anyhow, it was quite wrong. You can see that his head just said, 'Oh - Beyonce didn't win. She might be feeling bad - I expected her to win. I'mma go say that I thought her video was the best, so she doesn't feel bad' or something along those lines.


He wasn't thinking, 'I'mma go make that Taylor girl feel like crap and tell her she didn't deserve her award in front of millions of viewers'. The thought process didn't get that far. The alcohol (and whatever else) intervened.


But in no universe was that an even remotely ok thing to do.


Oh Yeah, I know who Taylor Swift Is


One good thing that comes out of it is that Taylor Swift is more of a house-hold name than she used to be. I am hip and with-it and knew who she was beforehand (I accidentally came across an E Channel special on her once), but now a lot of other people who usually avoid soft-pop-country songs with videos of princesses and castles know who she is.


Victory!


Too Good to be True - Ratings Gold!


I like that there are conspiracy theories going around about it being some kind of set-up to get media attention. This is feasible on some levels - award show ratings have been flagging in recent years and it's hard to change the formula and spice things up, when they're so prone to cliche and predictable gratuities. I doubt Taylor was in on it. She did a pretty good breathless and excited act before he came up.