Kanye: Britney And I Were Exploited
Rapper Says MTV Betrayed Him And Knew That Spears Wasn't Ready To Perform
13NEW YORK, Sept. 11, 2007
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Pharrell, Kanye 'Number One'
Pharrell Williams and Kanye West perform their hit single "Number One" on "The Early Show" plaza. | Share/Embed
(CBS) The world might have been shocked by the state of Britney Spears at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, but Kanye West wasn't.
"I knew that was going to happen," he said in an interview with radio host JJ Kincaid New York City's Z100 radio station.
By "that" he meant that the formerly immaculately toned Spears came on stage in less than perfect shape, wearing an unflattering sparkling bikini and stumbling her way through an unconvincing lip-syncing routine. And MTV knew exactly what they were doing, West said.
"They knew that Britney wasn't ready and they had her perform so they exploited her," the "Stronger" rapper said.
West, who released his new album "Graduation" today, said he felt sorry for Spears towards the end of her performance of her new single "Gimme More."Photos: MTV VMA Fashion Police
"I was like man, 'It's a dirty game,' you know? This game will chew you up and spit you out," he said.
But West is livid about the way he says MTV treated him. He feels that he was victimized just as much as he says Spears was. West was nominated for five different awards and didn't win one. He said that MTV didn't give him the chance to shine. Instead, they gave Justin Timberlake and Timbaland the most coveted performances.
Timberlake, who West says is his favorite artist, opened last year's show and closed this year's. He also had his own party suite with super-producer Timbaland. West had his own suite but was miffed that he didn't get his chance to show off "Stronger" on the main stage.
"Why aren't you giving me a chance, given that 'Stronger' is one of the No. 1 songs right now, give me a chance to give it that type of look," he said.
West said he was the first artist MTV signed on for the show and the music network went to great lengths to make him feel like he was "in" with the way the show was being run. He also said MTV promised him he would win video of the year if he came to the show. West says he feels MTV betrayed and deceived him.
"It's almost as if they are trying to antagonize me to see if they can create a TV moment," he said.
To make matters worse, West was insulted that MTV used his co-star in the video for "Touch the Sky," Pamela Anderson, who made an off-color introduction on the telecast.
"One of the best times I've ever had was making out with the next performer in the middle of the desert," she said. "I think I had my tongue so far down his throat I could taste his fiancée -- and I might need a repeat performance later tonight."
West, who is recently engaged, said he thought the joke was disrespectful to his relationship.
The "Gold Digger" singer has a troubled history with MTV. He stormed the stage at MTV Europe Awards in protest after his song "Touch the Sky" didn't win best video.
"If I don't win, the award show loses credibility," he said then.
Now, West has apparently lost all faith in MTV and said he is no longer working with the network and already cancelled his upcoming appearance on TRL.
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If you ain''t got it, don''t flaunt it. Hide it.
Everybody & his brother is looking at you.
Kanye West "exploited." Uh yeah. Puh-leeeeeze.
If it wasn''t for MTV, he wouldn''t be where he is
today. Britney would never have made it either.
Quit your whining. Call you accountant & ask him how much money you have, Kanye.
to adjust to rocking sober. or dancing
sober. partying sober. you have your
natural inhibitions. you ordinarily don''t
do things you would have done while totally
toasted. you begin to realize what you''ve
been doing all these years, and you are
slowly being restored to sanity. its kinda
hard to look in the mirror for a long time
after that. i did what? its like coming
out of a dream, and you were rip van winkle.
what''s been going on? where have i been?
some people are like that for 40 years or
more. hit the bar at 6 a.m. and stay all
day and night till 2 a.m. just sipping away.
just blame someone else for your failures and inabilities. oh did they not want us to vote for kerry last 2004??
hummmm
They have the preteen to twenty set swallowing this spew thanks only to ruthless and almost subliminal marketing (aka TV mind control).
As for Britney, too flabby to wear that type of an outfit. I see her as a person of little talent and was just plain lucky that she got as far as she did in her career.
The other commenters are correct. There comes a point when giving a person a chance and figuring out you''re not good in the field has to be made.
I lost faith in MTV too. However, his attitude plus those of that gross singer "comeback" thing are my reasons. That singer too has the attitude problem. Though quite frankly, anyone who calls her fat is totally wrong. For having 2 kids, she''s in awesome shape and should be commended. But the tawdry acts on stage plus the usual lipsync/electronic voice enhancement issues were still present as usual.
And what bothers me most; our current and future generations - will they expect today''s antics to be normal and - Heaven forbid - one-upped by something even more tasteless and crude? Pushing an envelope once in a while is one thing; what''s going on in the media these days is quite another and serves more to simply push an envelope. It''s shoving the envelope into the shredder.
And the biggest moral is: One needn''t be #1 always. Why not have a steady base of fans? They will never let you down. Mass audiences are fickle and always will be. Provide more than sleaze and you''ll have a guaranteed audience for a very long time. Sounds preferable to me!