‘Shelter from the Storm’ controversy?

Jason Sandford

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

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Last week, my man Kanye blew up at George Bush during NBC’s telethon for Hurricane Katrina aid, saying the prez “doesn’t care about black people.” Last night, Kanye was on another telethon, this one called “Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast.” It was an hour-long telethon carried by all six major broadcast networks, according to the LA Times. Also last night, B.E.T. had its own telethon to help.

That aside, Ashvegas has been getting some disturbing reports about our local ABC affiliate, WLOS, breaking away from the telethon, much to the dismay of some viewers. I know this is probably a stupid question – but was anybody watching WLOS last night? I need more reports. Once again, our screen capture technology failed us (although Ashvegas is working on some great new tricks for y’all.)

Back to Kanye – he didn’t go off last night. He was all about the music on “Shelter from the Storm,” according to the LA Times, and on B.E.T., he reflected on last week’s comments.

The media “really tried to make the black people seem like animals,” he said on BET. “I just felt the world needed to hear what was going on…. I just let my heart speak for myself without thinking about what my image is or how it is going to hurt me financially or what is going to happen. I just do it and I say what I really feel.”

More telethon fun tonight – MTV/VH1/CMT gets into the act, with the Strolling Bones, Paul McCartney and none other than Mr. West.