Shea: Kanye’s 2009 VMA scandal hardly surprising

Oh, Kanye.

Whether it is his fans, his PR folks or Beyoncé Knowles muttering it, that one… Oh, Kanye.

Whether it is his fans, his PR folks or Beyoncé Knowles muttering it, that one simple phrase trails behind each and every one of Kanye West’s many stunts over the course of his career.

After a while, it becomes pretty run of the mill. The equation of Kanye West plus any given award show usually equals a YouTube hit, backlash from the press, a public apology and a world of trouble for his public relations team. Simple enough to follow.

But, Kanye’s shocking performance at the MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sunday threw a variable into the formula that Kanye clearly miscalculated.

That variable was Taylor Swift’s diabeticly sweet persona, genuine enthusiasm and rookie status on the VMA stage. Kanye’s rude declaration could not have been bestowed on a more innocent victim.

He really might as well have kicked a puppy onstage.

America saw a 19-year-old, country-singing Cinderella, all dressed up for the ball, have the moment she had been waiting for smashed to pieces — and got mad.

But, as shocking as it was, the Taylor Swift incident was far from unprecedented. So, it’s interesting that it took a Jesus-loving country-pop star to really bring the heat onto Kanye for his behavior.

Kanye’s propensity to speak before he think, and the fact that his ego has swelled to be roughly the size of the International Space Station, have both gotten him into plenty of situations before.

So, from Kanye’s perspective, the backlash from this particular stunt probably came as somewhat of a surprise. For him, this is pretty usual behavior.

Looking back over his track record of stupid mistakes, the 2009 VMAs actually seems pretty mild.

Back at the start of his career, Kanye furiously stormed out of the 2004 American Music Awards after not winning Best New Artist.

The following year, Kanye made headlines when he uttered the infamous line, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” during an NBC Hurricane Katrina benefit concert.

In 2006, Kanye really stepped up his game with an angrier, profanity-laden onstage hissy fit at the European Music Awards. In a similar form to this week’s incident, Kanye jumped onstage after English rockers Justice Vs Simian beat his video for “Touch the Sky” for Best Video.

His tirade bashed the awards and argued that “Touch the Sky” should have won because it cost a million dollars, had Pamela Anderson in it and featured Kanye jumping across canyons.

2007’s VMAs proved another great opportunity for Kanye to have an embarrassing outburst. A video of his backstage meltdown at the VMAs spread across YouTube like wildfire.

After taking the 2008 award season off from making a fool of himself, Kanye West is back and more offensive than ever.

So, kudos to Taylor Swift for being the sacrificial lamb that had Kanye called out on his asinine behavior. Oh, and I guess her music video was pretty good, too.

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