When it comes to taking money and not caring about the source, Kanye West stands right up there at the top of the list. This past weekend, Kanye was paid $3M by the President of Kazakhstan to play at the wedding of his grandson. Kanye was immediately criticized by human rights groups for accepting the money and Kanye told them that he would play for the guy everyday if he paid Kanye that kind of money. Kanye will play for anyone Kanye wants to play for and the only thing stopping him are his personal beliefs and not the beliefs of others. If that President had paid $3M for Kim Kardashian to give the grandson a lap dance, Kris Jenner would have been passing out bills for people to make it rain over her daughter.
This is how Jennifer Lopez is too. Have you heard anything from her about giving her fees back for playing for dictators? Nope. All she does is make sure that she is getting paid before she plays and dictators and other less than desirable folks know they can call her and she will come play for them. Mariah Carey is the same way too.
Its all about the Benjamins when you come from the streets.
ReplyDeleteyou know your family life sucks when you leave them to hang out with dictators :)
ReplyDeleteSo Enty, what mechanism do you have in place to ensure that none of your clicks come from less than desirable people? Just curious abt what you're doing to make sure we are all upstanding citizens. Just sayin'.
ReplyDelete@MissMoPR This is a false analogy - the difference is intentionally accepting money from a known bad guy, versus selling a product to the public which may include some bad guys. One might, say, manufacture organic butterfly juice and sell it at the nearest Whole Foods, and there's nothing to stop heroin dealers and child molesters from going into the Whole Foods and buying it.
DeleteFunny how no one cares about a countrys human rights record until a celebrity is paid money to perform there.
ReplyDeleteKels : we only care If westerners have been affected. Eg. The fucking state of Syria. No one gives a fuck unless a white person has been killed.
Delete@Kels, I disagree. Amnesty International has been on this guy for ages. He has oil, which is why he gets away with things. Just like the Saudis.
Delete@Rach, in that ridiculous 18th century "Five Races of Mankind" classification still in use today - ie European, African, Asian, and First Nations American and Pacific Islander - the fucking state of Syria is considered White.
If anyone cares, there was a great piece in the NYTimes about this, basically talking about how we need to redefine our concept of race for the 21st century and beyond. It was written by the head of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Nutty : white, English speaking. Anyone w a robe denotes western fear
DeleteUm, Rach, not a lot of robes in Syria. Pretty Westernized society. Also lots of Christians - about 10%. Lots of famous Syrian-Americans - Steve Jobs, Paula Abdul, Terri Hatcher, even Jerry Seinfeld. It's not really a backwater.
DeleteNutty : I've travelled to Syria, have you? Xx
DeletePs Nutty, my dad is Lebanese and I've spent time there. Mwah! Xx
DeleteI have travelled to Syria! It was a beautiful place, and I hear Lebanon is lovely as well.
DeleteNutty/ it is! Best hommus around!
DeleteIn going to gift Cuntye w an iron cross and a copy of Mein Kamph.
ReplyDeleteI hear Leni Riefenstahl isn't returning his calls.
*i'm
DeleteFuck Nazarbayav
ReplyDeleteCome on, America doesn't give a shit about Human Rights. Human Rights do nothing but impede Capitalism, which is why we get our manufactured goods from China.
ReplyDeleteThis is how things work in the new Gilded Age. You still think it's the 20th century when there was a sense of shame. Those days are gone. It's all about the Benjamins now. The only shame now is not having the benjamins.
ReplyDeletegive me 3 million and I'm tap dancing with Hitler during passover. Sorry folks but if you're not paying the bills or providing my family with shelter than STFU
ReplyDeleteLMAO
DeletePolyphonic Spree all wore robes and they didn't scare me at all.
ReplyDeleteLazyday: I LOVE you for referencing the spree! LOVE THEM! (& you!)
Delete@single man, you're a dreamboat! Hey, have you heard this one is single? It's a match made in heaven for you two!
ReplyDeleteGotta move them dollas.
ReplyDelete@Nutty: Yer not making a good case for Syria with that list of people.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha! Count! We had Australian Syrians claiming the doco footage was false.
DeleteIt isn't.
It's terrible
And no one seems to give a flying fuck.
I grew up there.
It is heinous.
Rach, I care. Im shocked that this horror show is going on.
DeleteAnd fuck kanye. He needs to make all the $$ he can now.
its more clear to me now why kanye and kim konnect. they are all just prostitutes who will do anything if the paycheck is big enough.
ReplyDeletewasn't kanye wearing a wwjd bracelet when he was on kris' show? yeah, I'm pretty certain j wouldn't be singing for a sociopathic dictator.
he should change the initials to 'wwkjd'. ie kris jenner.
Since Obama isn't very interested to save Syria peoples,who cares about the dictators honestly?
ReplyDeleteKanye,take money !
@kels: +1
ReplyDeletePoor Kanye, he gets no respect.
ReplyDeleteThe pixelated footage shows the rapper performing to an ambivalent crowd: people scarcely seem to be paying attention; when they are, they are posing for photographs.
So much for the conscience of Mr. "Diamonds of the Sierra Leone" West.
Rach Around mixed up her red and blue pills again this morning
ReplyDeleteHey @French Girl - pretty silly for you guys over in Europe to get outraged about what America does or doesn't do in Syria. Last I heard you were UN members and could file for a resolution to do something about it. But then you would have to send your own troops, which seems to be the line you won't cross. When any of the other NATO allies start stepping up and offering to go in first I will happily listen to you complain. Until then I kind of think the whole lot of you need to STFU.
ReplyDeleteVery good point
DeleteGo Lucas
DeleteYES Lucas, EXACTLY. I'm sorry for the Syrians, IF what is being reported is true, which I doubt. The BBC Syrian reporter hasn't set foot in Syria in 10 years and gets his "news" from phone calls so forgive me for not believing this story about chemical weapons. Remember, Saddam had them too, until we got there and then they were mysteriously gone! What next, they're eating babies like the Hun in WWI?
ReplyDeleteIt's the same old propaganda every time to get us to meddle in affairs that do not concern us, ad nobody seems to notice, they just fall for it! We can't take care of our own people but we're expected to rush to the rescue yet again for people who will hate us for interfering? Seems especially fishy since Syria is right next door to Israel....gee why would our "allies" have us destabilizing the country right next door?
There's a lot more to this than people realize and some Australian running their mouth about what AMERICA should do is a load of horse shit, especially since I have a feeling that aforementioned Australian probably badmouths the US every chance they get. But of course we should do what OTHER countries want us to do, right?
But the one question I would really like to know the answer to is: If this was occurring under GWB, what would the response be from all you that are so gung ho to interfere?
The best Lebanese American is George Noory, BTW :)
While it was in bad taste for him to play for that audience, I DO have to hand it to him (begrudgingly) for not playing for the money, and then once he got called on it, claiming ignorance. That is what so many other artists do. At least he was honest about it.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I still he is king of the douchebags...
"Isn't Danny Thomas one?"
ReplyDelete"Not LEBANESE, Blanche. LESBIAN."
heehee- your Golden Girls laugh of the day.
Kanye is obviously amoral. Thats his business and someday he will have to answer for it. I hope not one penny of that money brings him one iota if happiness.
ReplyDeleteAs for Syria, why is everyone mad at America for wanting to help? The pictures of dead children break my heart. Focus your anger on this out of control dictator, not America. Its always the same, america so bad, so evil- until they need us, then were great. Disgusting.
Greedy douchebag.
ReplyDeleteGross - I mean, how much freakin' money do they need?
Beyonce, JLo, - please don't sing about "girl power" when you take money from thugs and criminals who do everything in their power to suppress women in their own country.
Kanye, please stop singing about oppression when you take blood money from murderous, oppressive dictators.
Kanye pleads innocence, as did JLo when she got called out on her gig a while back.
ReplyDeleteBeyonce and JayZ visited Cuba, and gave Raul Castro exactly what he wanted: lots of PR.
Do these celebrities use the Internet - I mean, other to Google what others have been saying about them? For God's sake, I know they're not the smartest tools in the shed, but they could probably understand a Wikipedia page, right?
Hell, I check out snopes.com before reposting most things on Facebook.
If Kanye and these other money-hungry divas had any decency they would perform, take the millions and donate every penny to some human rights organization in a very public manner. Preferably one that acts against the dictator in question. Kanye has all the money in the world already, so paying bills just isn't a good excuse. Megalomaniac asshole.
ReplyDeleteI remember after Hurricane Katrina and Kanye being so horrified that people were stranded on rooftops, starving and dehydrated. I must have missed the footage of him in his boat rescuing everyone.
ReplyDeleteAll talk, no action.
I heard Kazakhstan was a great place to visit. Very safe and very cheap. Also a safe place to start business. Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteGee Saint Enty, that sure is bad. Kinda like having supposed information in BI's about rape and abuse that you choose to share on here rather than give to authorities :D
ReplyDelete