Kanye & The VMA - Publicity Stunt!

Many have probably seen the footage of Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for best female music video at this year's MTV VMA's.  He, now infamously, declared that Beyonce deserved the Moon Man but has since offered a rambling though emotional apology.

So why a publicity stunt? Well, it's been done before, probably more times than we know but I'll cite two examples both involving the same accomplice: Marshall Mathers a.k.a Eminem. We all know about his collaboration with Sacha Baron Cohen to promote the  Bruno movie. Cohen was lowered from the ceiling, bare butted, onto a disgusted Eminem. The sad part is, many thought it was spontaneous. How do you spontaneously get lowered from the ceiling at a massive awards show...onto Eminem? John Mayer, maybe. Oh, where did this take place? The MTV Movie Awards. Are we seeing a common denominator here?

Next up was the so-called triangular feud between Eminem, Mariah Carey and her toy boy husband, Nick Cannon. What was the product? Carey's new single at the time, Obsessed, which really could have been about any old freak. If Obsessed is about Eminem, then Vision of Love is about Kermit the Frog. Now the beef allegedly continues and new beef-related tunes and lyrics from Eminem are out there. But we just don't care anymore. At any rate the point was to sell, sell, sell. 

Now, back to Kanye. Firstly, why was West allowed to storm the stage? Why did no one try to escort him off? Do they not have stage hands, protocol, backstage managers? Further, the camera was so situated as to catch Beyonce's shock at the very moment his spontaneous announcement was made. How did the cameraman know he should be beside Beyonce just then? Like much of today's Hollywood publicity, the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. Fiction and reality apparently make more money than fiction alone. Just look at the Iraq War. But this is what the US economy is all about - disaster capitalism. Sell a product without letting anyone know what they are buying, or even that they are buying anything at all.

As long as the ratings go up and the Benjamin's flow. Everybody wins. Kanye is not losing money because of this incident. I wouldn't be surprised if he releases a new tune about the whole harrowing affair. I wager it'll be called Man in the Moon or Swift Me Off My Feet - uh, uh, uh. Remember, you heard it here first! 

So, what was the product this time? Well, it just so happened that the fresh-out-the-oven Jay Leno Show premiered in time to feature who? Kanye West. Coincidence? I think not. What better way to garner viewership and ratings than to have the loony who's been grabbing YouTube by the eyes for the past 24 hrs. This is where Kanye made his  blubbering apology. After the mad rush to YouTube the video disappears and the only place to go to see it again is back to the source. More money is made.

The casting was perfect. Kanye has a decorated history of TV meltdowns, none more famous than his 'George Bush hates black people' post-Katrina declaration. Classic. The goal of course, to kickstart Leno's new NBC show. We know that any PR, no matter how disgusting, only brings notoriety and more money. Hilton's 'leaked' sex video, Tommy Lee had one too as did a slew of other celebrities once they realized it could bring in some cash. 

Conspiracy theory? Well frankly yes. But it's not a secret. Corporations have openly conspired to get your money - as much of it as you will give them (and some you don't want to) and they spend millions on advertising, PR and this new integration of reality and PR in order to get billions. Smart. New. Old.  But it got our attention. We will forget about it in 2 1/2 days. In fact, you're probably wondering what the heck I'm yammering about.

You get my point. Keep an eye out for the next shenanigan.