Kanye goes off

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Kanye West, my man, went off during last night’s “Concert for Hurricane Relief.” It’s just another example of how deeply the New Orleans tragedy has been felt by people across the U.S.

You know how these benefits go – there’s a music performance, then some celebrities take the stage, read something from a Teleprompter about how important it is to give money, then more music.

Well, Kanye and Mike Myers (an odd combo) were up for their little Teleprompter piece, but while Myers read his pablum, it was clear that Kanye was not.

Here’s what happened:

Kanye, with sort of a distressed/shocked/angry look on his face, rambles about that issue with the photos of the black man, captioned as “looting,” and the white couple, captioned as having “found” the food. He talks, and grows more agitated, about the slow relief response and the troubles of black people, especially. “They’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us.”

Myers turns to look at Kanye, puzzled, shocked. Kanye stops and Myers picks up from the prompter. More pablum. Then it’s back to Kanye.

“George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” Kanye says, dropping the bomb.

Myers turns to him and clearly has no idea what to say. Then they go to a flabbergasted Chris Tucker.

I watched a replay of the concert. Kanye’s last statement had been edited out.

Kanye, you tell ’em. You don’t owe anyone an apology for what you said. George Bush owes the country an apology.