Kanye West is running for president. He may have given his VMA speech high. Oh yeah, and he's pretty sure that there is a tradition of systemic racism in the music industry ... but back to the wacky sound bites.
Whatever else you might say about West’s VMA acceptance speech, the aspects that the media are paying attention to are minor throwaway lines wholly unconnected to the main point. News outlets have run headlines almost exclusively emphasizing the conclusion of West's speech, wherein he announced his candidacy for the 2020 presidential election.
Yes, he said it. He also declared that he smoked something before the speech to “[knock] the edge off.” But overlooked by the majority of outlets was when he attacked the celebrity-drama-focused nature of the awards and media. He alleged that MTV had played up his encounter with Taylor Swift in the 2009 VMAs for ratings, but ignored the main point of his interjection. Listing a handful of African-American artists that have been denied awards during his career, West once again implied, as he did when he interrupted Taylor Swift, that the awards process is biased against minority artists.
It holds particular relevance after this summer, when the media became more obsessed with a Twitter feud between Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj than the latter’s allegation of racism in the music industry.
Given the headlines after the VMAs, it is difficult to argue with the central point in West’s speech. Yes, the media has played conflict, celebrity and individual clips up in favor of addressing a difficult and contentious issue even when given an avenue to do so.
Perhaps it does generate more ratings than focusing upon the central points that West and Minaj have made. But if so, that means the media believes the American people would rather hear about trivial disputes and gaffes by famous people than confront a potentially dark reality of the world. Sadder still, they were proven right.
In a different vein, if he’s serious about the presidential bid, West will probably be campaigning in Columbia in a few years time. Just try to imagine that.