The 9 Craziest Kanye West Onstage Moments of All Time
Kanye West will be performing at the iHeartRadio Music Festival, held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas Sept. 18-19 and streaming on Yahoo Live. Click HERE to watch!
Do you remember that time Kanye West took the stage and nothing controversial happened? That’s exactly the point. No one remembers a tame Kanye moment. Despite his artistic genius and legitimately G.O.O.D. music, he has set a precedent that every time he takes the platform, fans should expect the unexpected.
Who knows what will happen Friday night, when Kanye headlines the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Vegas? To prepare, we’ve compiled a list of his nine craziest onstage moments. Maybe whatever happens in Vegas will end up rounding a future list of Kanye’s top 10.
9. Up in Smoke at the Billboard Music Awards (May 2015)
It was pretty difficult to review Kanye’s 2015 Billboard Music Awards performance because, frankly, it was tough to see it, even for those in the live audience (which was also at Vegas’s MGM Grand). The stage was engulfed in so much smoke as he performed “All Day” and “Black Skinhead” that he was barely visible. This stunt prompted many angry complaints on Twitter, and many boos from the crowd.
8. In Beyoncé’s Defense, Again (February 2015)
Kanye was unanimously elected the president of the Beyoncé stan club in 2009, when he objected to her music video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” losing to Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” for the Best Female Video MTV Video Music Award. Nearly six years later, he was almost as passionate when Beck’s Morning Phase beat out Beyoncé’s self-titled set for the 2015 Album of the Year Grammy. Kanye instinctively launched into protest mode, rising from his seat and approaching the Grammys’ microphone as Beck received the honor. Fortunately, Kanye stopped, played it off as a joke, and apologized to Beck weeks later via Twitter.
7. Mic Stand Optional (Feb. 2013)
By no means is Kanye the first artist to drop the mic at the end of a performance. But the gesture felt disturbing when Kanye did it to wrap his February 2013 concert at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. Before concluding the show with his song “Touch the Sky,” he began to repeatedly scream the lyric “top of the world,” appeared angry, and slammed the microphone on the ground so hard that it went spiraling into the audience.
6. No Justice for Justice vs. Simian (November 2006)
Just a couple months after Kanye slammed President George W. Bush on national television (more on that later), he traveled to Copenhagen to get his dis on, international-style. Apparently he was none too pleased that the MTV Europe Music Awards only presented him with the Best Hip-Hop artist trophy and held back the top honor: Video of the Year. Kanye could not contain his fury when France’s Justice vs. Simian’s “We Are Your Friends” won that award instead, so of course he interrupted their humble acceptance speech with “Oh hell naw!” and proceeded to explain why his amazing Evel Knievel-themed “Touch the Sky” video should have won: It “cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons!” He did have a point, but still.
5. Kanye Doesn’t Like His Own Medicine (December 2013)
For someone who clearly has no qualms when it comes to interrupting other artists, Kanye sure doesn’t like it when the roles are reversed. One outspoken fan caught ‘Ye’s wrath when she dared to scream at him during an otherwise somber Auto-Tuned moment at a San Antonio concert. The attendee was not a fan of his fancy Maison Martin Margiela wardrobe and repeatedly pleaded with him to take off his “creepy mask.” After he explained that he hid his mug because “when I don’t have the mask, I have to worry about if my face is the right way for the camera,” the complaints ensued, so Kanye gestured for security to escort the heckler out of the venue.
4. The Lowest Moment in George W. Bush’s Presidency (September 2005)
Not too many rappers can boast that anything they said ever commanded the attention of a world leader, so the fact that Kanye managed to upset George W. Bush is a testament to his impact. When making an appearance on A Concert for Hurricane Relief to help raise money to aid the victims of the devastating Hurricane Katrina, Kanye abandoned the script live on air to instead voice his complaints. He accused the media of being unsympathetic towards black victims, and also famously alleged: “George Bush does not care about black people.” In his 2010 book, Decision Points, Bush described Kanye’s lashing as a low point during his presidency. In response, Kanye backpedaled a bit, saying he did not have “enough information” to peg Bush as a racist.
3. Prankster Leaves Kanye Speechless (June 2015)
Comedian Lee Nelson managed to accomplish what many others have been not able to achieve – he silenced Kanye. During Kanye’s headlining set at the Glastonbury Festival this year, Nelson managed to run onstage with the rapper during “Black Skinhead.” Just as Kanye was getting into the song, Nelson sneaked up behind him and mimicked his moves, clearly annoying the MC. The impromptu moment left Kanye without words. He simply pointed at Nelson in apparent disbelief and summoned security to handle the situation. In those glorious 15 seconds, Nelson had already taken centerstage, faced the crowd, and raised his hands his victory. He later tweeted that he “Kanye’d Kanye.” Brilliant.
2. Actually, It Was Beyoncé Who Let Taylor Finish (September 2009)
It will be difficult for Kanye to top his most famous rant of all time: that time he bumrushed Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech to inform her and MTV Video Music Awards viewers that her Best Female Video Moonman should have gone to Beyoncé, just seconds after Taylor had gushed that she’d always dreamed of “winning one of these!” Although some agreed with Kanye, and others suspected that the infamous incident was just another VMA stunt, the look of horror on Taylor’s face during that moment seemed very real. But she remained graceful during the spectacle, and she received some redemption at the end of the night, when Beyoncé won the biggest honor but invited Taylor back onstage to finish her speech.
1. Kanye West for President (August 2015)
No one could have possibly expected Kanye to announce his bid for the Oval Office in 2020. But that’s exactly what happened as he concluded his 11-minute, rambling acceptance speech for Video Vanguard honor at this year’s VMAs. While his entire ridiculous speech was worthy of a live-tweeting spree, from his admission that he “rolled up a little something” before the ceremony to his excessive use of the term “bro,“ his last statement sparked one of the top-trending topics of the night: “I have decided in 2020 to run for president.” Our countdown to this moment has begun.
