Another Kanye West Controversy
Kanye West made headlines again due to his controversial demand at his concert in Sydney. He refused to start his song until everyone stood up. According to a Fox News article, West said, “I can’t do this show until everybody stand up. Unless you got a handicap pass and you get special parking and s**t.”
He continued to wait for everybody to stand up and eventually pointed out two people who weren’t standing. The crowd booed, not knowing that the two were handicapped. He then complained about never having to wait so long to start a song before. Although West kept saying that if you’re in a wheelchair it is okay to remain seated, he wanted proof of you being handicapped. He realized his mistake once one of the handicapped persons waved a prosthetic limb at West, according to Fox News. He then got information from a bouncer that the other person was in a wheelchair, and said it was okay and started his song.
The situation didn’t end at the concert though. The Twitter world exploded over this incident, according to BBC News. Comedians chimed in, such as Adam Hills, an Australian comedian, tweeting, “Dear Kanye, I ain’t sayin you should know better, but she won’t dance if she a no-legger.” Other people took the situation more seriously like Scott Jordan Harris. Harris is a disabled journalist for Telegraph. His main point was that he believes that disabled people should be able to go out freely and not need to prove their disability. Many other people continued to voice their opinions as well.
As always, West has to have the last word. West made sure to defend himself, which was not surprising. During his concert on Monday, he criticized the media for broadcasting the incident, according to CNN. They quoted him saying, “They’ve got this thing where they want the masses, the people who’ve never even heard one of my albums, to somehow read a headline that reads negative and to think that I’m a bad person. But the thing is … I’m a married Christian man with a family.” Even Kim Kardashian had to join in on the incident. To show support for West, she instagrammed a video of his concert with the following caption:
“What an amazing Australian tour! It’s frustrating that something so awesome could be clouded by lies in the media. Kanye never asked anyone in a wheel chair to stand up & the audience videos show that. He asked for everyone to stand up & dance UNLESS they were in a wheel chair.”
Her post even included the hashtags showing her stance: #JustWantedEveryoneToHaveAFunNight and #TheMediaTwistsThings. Her post got 281,163 likes. Instead of letting her husband defend himself, Kim Kardashian had to get in the limelight and get involved.
This situation regarding West and how he treats the disabled is truly controversial. Some people may think what he did is not that bad because even before he realized there was an audience member in a wheelchair, he kept saying that if you’re in a wheelchair it is okay to sit. The negative side of this is that he singled out the disabled publicly. Lately, it has been appearing that everything West does turns into a controversy brought up in the media.
