[Mb-civic] Kanye West's Torrent of Criticism, Live on NBC - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Kanye West's Torrent of Criticism, Live on NBC

By Lisa de Moraes
Saturday, September 3, 2005; Page C01
Why We Love Live Television, Reason No. 137:

NBC's levee broke and Kanye West flooded through with a tear about the 
federal response in New Orleans during the network's live concert 
fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina last night.

The rapper was among the celebs and singers participating in the 
one-hour special, produced by NBC News and run on the NBC broadcast 
network, as well as MSNBC and CNBC, because, hey, the numbers couldn't 
be any worse than usual on a Friday night and hopefully they'd raise a 
chunk of change for a good cause, the American Red Cross Disaster Relief 
Fund.

Among the performers, Faith Hill sang "There Will Come a Time," which 
included the lyrics, "The darkness will be gone, the weak shall be 
strong. Hold on to your faith." Aaron Neville performed Randy Newman's 
"Louisiana 1927" with its chorus: "They're trying to wash us away, 
they're trying to wash us away."

West was not scheduled to perform; he was one of the blah, blah, 
blahers, who would read from scripts prepared by the network about the 
impact of Katrina on southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

West and Mike Myers had been paired up to appear about halfway through 
the show. Their assignment: Take turns reading a script describing the 
breach in the levees around New Orleans.

Myers: The landscape of the city has changed dramatically, tragically 
and perhaps irreversibly. There is now over 25 feet of water where there 
was once city streets and thriving neighborhoods.

(Myers throws to West, who looked extremely nervous in his super-preppy 
designer rugby shirt and white pants, which is not like the arrogant 
West and which, in retrospect, should have been a tip-off.)

West: I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black 
family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, 
"They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting 
for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me 
to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn 
away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping 
before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager 
right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to 
imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So 
anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the 
way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less 
well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything 
they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war 
right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to 
go down and shoot us!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090300165.html?nav=hcmodule
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