By: SoundSlam
Published: Sep. 3, 2005 - New York, NY

Kanye West was a famous musician, rapper, and record producer a short time ago. Now, Kanye West is the most loved, the most hated, and the most outspoken individual in the entertainment industry. If West’s provocative, challenging, and courageous comments expressing to America to halt their anti-gay verbiage were not enough for you, or you are not yet annoyed with his undeniably egotistical frame of mind, then you now have another stick to measure up with.

As part of the NBC televised “A Concert for Hurricane Relief” on Friday night, Kanye West stepped well beyond his scripted boundaries and delivered a very real and brutally honest depiction of the efforts, or lack thereof, taking place on the Gulf Coast, from his own subjective perspective. While standing next to a fellow co-host, Mike Myers, West took his turn to speak and stated with a shaky, unpredictable delivery that America seems designed “to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible.” That was not all West said, either. ‘Ye stated “I hate the way they portray us in the media. When you see a black family, it says they’re looting. When you see a white family, it says they’re looking for food.”

When Mike Myers realizes that Mr. West appears to be done speaking, the comedian and actor, in a puzzled, stunned, and even frustrated manner, makes his best attempt to route the television viewers back on the initial track, courtesy of the prepared lines to be read from the teleprompter.

Kanye made claims that he’s even been shopping since the event and impulsively, and nearly apologetically, made it known that he is currently arranging for the largest financial donation to be made to help the homeless and psychologically battered people down South. His verbal skills showed signs of nervousness and a stream-of-consciousness flow that immediately allowed any and all viewers to realize that this was no staged matter.

Finally, with moments left for Myers’ and West’s scene, Kanye states in a commanding voice: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people!” The camera cut away from West as the last words spoken were “Please call ----“. The transition to Chris Tucker also left for an awkward moment, as Tucker seemed simply shocked and stumbled to pick up where they were supposed to have left off.

Why was this not censored, one might ask? Simple. The show, simulcast from New York on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast with only a couple second delay built in for potential curse words to be edited. However, the individual in charge of the delay editing was instructed to listen for curse words, and did not fully realize that Kanye had strayed from his script. NBC spokesperson Rebecca Marks said it was undetermined how much, if any, of the tirade would be included in the taped West Coast feed three hours later.

Parts of West’s unprepared statement were in reaction to particular AP photos, many from different photographers, that read captions with suggestive language. For example, one image of a white couple state that they are “finding bread and soda from a local grocery store” while another photo of a young black child uses terminology such as “looting a grocery store.”

Tune back into SoundSlam.com for more coverage and media response to Kanye West’s live television comments as they unfold.