Timeline of Kanye West’s outburts, after rapper labelled Donald Trump his ‘brother’
AFTER labelling Donald Trump his ‘brother’ and claiming the pair both have ‘dragon energy’, Kanye West has had another mad brain snap — but it certainly isn’t his first.
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AFTER labelling Donald Trump his ‘brother’ and claiming the pair both have ‘dragon energy’, Kanye West has raised concerns he’s headed for another breakdown.
The rapper has been ranting like crazy on Twitter over the past couple of days — including several bizarre pro-Trump tweets — amid reports he abruptly fired his manager Scooter Braun because he wanted to ‘do everything’.
But the random brain snap certainly isn’t a first for West. In fact, after digging through his life, it seems he could even take the cake for most celebrity outbursts in history ...
This is how his outburts began.
MORE: Has Kanye West gone too far?
NOVEMBER, 2004
In what was the first of a long line of egotistical comments, West was nominated for Best New Artist at the American Music Awards for his debut album, The College Dropout. He became outraged when he lost to country star, Gretchen Wilson. “I felt like I was definitely robbed, and I refuse to give any politically correct bulls--- ass comment,” he said to reporters. “I was the Best New Artist this year.”
SEPTEMBER, 2005
During a televised benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief, West spoke alongside actor Mike Myers but randomly went off script and labelled the US President racist. “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” West claimed. It was a statement that the former US President later called the “worst moment” of his presidency.
NOVEMBER, 2006
When West lost the Best Hip-Hop artist award for his music video Touch the Sky at the MTV Europe Music Awards, he stormed the stage and demanded the microphone. “My video cost a million dollars. Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons and sh**. The awards show loses credibility.”
SEPTEMBER, 2009
In one of his most infamous outbursts ever, West took over the stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, making the sensational claim Beyonce’s Single Ladies should have won. A youthful Swift was visibly shocked when West took the microphone from her, saying “I’mma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.” It went viral around the world with President Obama even calling West a “jackass”.
FEBRUARY, 2011
West found himself at the centre of controversy again after a distasteful late-night tweet about women who have abortions. “An abortion can cost a ballin’ n***a up to 50gs maybe a 100. Gold diggin’ b****es be getting pregnant on purpose. #STRAPUP my n***as!”
AUGUST, 2011
During a performance at England’s Big Chill Festival, West scarily likened himself to Hitler, almost glorifying the world’s most hated man. “I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street, and people look at me like I’m ... insane, like I’m Hitler,” he said. “One day the light will shine through and one day people will understand everything I ever did.”
JULY, 2013
West was being photograped by numerous photographers at LAX, when he got in a confrontation with paparazzo Daniel Ramos. “What you’re trying to do is get me in trouble, so I step out and have to pay you like $250,000,” the rapper said, before running toward Ramos and attempting to grab his camera. West stepped back after about 15 seconds of wrestling with the photographer. While the L.A. County district attorney’s office decided not to file felony charges against West, the case was referred to the city attorney, who subsequently filed misdemeanor charges against the rapper which saw him sentenced to two years probation.
AUGUST, 2015
In a shock yet predictable move, West announced he wanted to run for President of the United States of America in 2020. West used his speech while accepting the Video Vanguard award at MTV’s Video Music Awards to announce his intention to run, saying: “I’m not no politician, bro. I’m confident, I believe in myself. We the Millennials, bro. This is a new mentality. We not going to control our kids with brands. We not going to teach low self-esteem and hate to our kids. We’re going to teach our kids to believe in ourselves.”
FEBRUARY, 2016
West hit headlines after publicly pleading Silicon Valley billionaires for money, claiming he was in millions of dollars worth of debt. This despite the fact he was in the middle of building a $39 million mansion in Hidden Hills.
JULY, 2016
West engaged in a massive feud with Taylor Swift, backed by his wife Kim Kardashian, over his lyric in which he claims he “made that b***h famous”. Swift denied knowing this line was in his song Famous, however Kardashian posted a number of audio recordings of the conversation between the pop princess and West, where it appears she approves of the track.
Swift disputed the recordings, saying West didn’t divulge that particular line with her. She famously posted an Instagram smackdown about West while she was staying on the Gold Coast in Australia. “While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot ‘approve’ a song you haven’t heard,” she wrote. “Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination.”
NOVEMBER 2016
West played at the SAP Centre in San Jose, California, taking to the stage 90 minutes after he was supposed to. He had trouble finishing his songs and instead launched into an epic 25 minute long rant about Donald Trump, Beyonce and Jay Z and other off-topic things. “If I would have voted, I would have voted for Trump. I wanted to say that before the election, but they told me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t say that aloud.’ Not only did I not vote, but there were a lot of things I actually liked about Trump’s campaign. His approach was (expletive) genius — because it worked.”
Audience members were throwing shoes and hats at West while booing him.
He also lashed out at Jay Z suggesting that he hadn’t heard from him in a while: “Jay Z, call me, bruh. You still ain’t calling me. Jay Z, call me. Aye, bruh, I know you got killers. Please don’t send them at my head. Just call me. Talk to me like a man.” West then explained that “the show’s over” before “dropping the microphone and running off the stage.”
The hashtag #KanyeisOverParty soon started trending online as the star cancelled his Life of Pablo tour due to exhaustion. He was admitted to hospital due to mental health issues and was there for over a week.
APRIL, 2018
After having an inactive Twitter account for a while, West reactivated the social platform and went on a posting frenzy, claiming Donald Trump was his ‘brother’ and that they were both ‘dragon energy’.
Many of West’s tweets seemed disconnected or nonsensical and some focused on slamming recent media coverage that claims those close to West are concerned for his health.
He also cryptically tweeted ‘2024’, which many thought was a political hint suggesting he would run for President in 2024.
It came after he fired his long-term manager, Scooter Braun, after reports suggested he wanted to do everything by himself.
Bizarrely, Trump tweeted back at the rapper, saying: “Thank you Kanye, very cool!”
West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, also had to step in to put some damage control in place as he went on to clarify things.
my wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018
Kim also took to Twitter to lash out at those who’ve suggested her husband has “mental health issues”, after he fired his lawyers and his manager.
To the media trying to demonize my husband let me just say this... your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary. So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018
She maintains he’s just expressing himself. She tweeted: “Because some of his ideas differ from yours you have to throw in the mental health card? That’s just not fair. He’s actually out of the sunken place when he’s being himself which is very expressive.”
Yesterday it was announced that Kanye had parted ways with some business people and media outlets made this about Kanye’s mental health. Rather than just a simple business decision. So I’m glad he tweeted about the state of his company and all of the exciting things happening
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018
He’s a free thinker, is that not allowed in America? Because some of his ideas differ from yours you have to throw in the mental health card? That’s just not fair. He’s actually out of the sunken place when he’s being himself which is very expressive
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) April 25, 2018
One thing is for sure, West is definitely unpredictable.