Kanye West is once again in the headlines for ranting about Beck receiving a Grammy Award – and it isn’t the first time he has been quick to voice his controversial opinion. The rapper has been on many rants and has slammed plenty of celebrities – and even the president – candidly sharing his opinions and hitting back at those who have made fun of him or even name-dropped him. Here are 5 celebrities who have felt the wrath of Mr. West – no one is safe.
Beck
Kanye believed Beck didn’t deserve his Grammy Award: “The Grammys, if they want real artists to come back, they need to stop playing with us,” he ranted. “We ain’t gonna play with them no more. Flawless, Beyoncé video, and Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyoncé. And at this point, we tired of it because what happens is, when you keep on diminishing art, and not respecting the craft, and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration. And we as musicians have to inspire people who go to work every day and they listen to that Beyoncé album, they feel like it takes them to another place, then they do this whole promotional event that, they’ll run the music over somebody’s speech, the artist, because they wanted commercial advertising.”
Jimmy kimmel
After comedian Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at him, Kanye was quick to respond: “Jimmy Kimmel is out of line to try and spoof in any way the first piece of honest media in years. I don’t take it as a joke… You don’t have scum bags hopping over fences trying to take picture of your daughter.”
Barack Obama
After Barack mentioned Kanye in a speech, the rapper commented: “I just think that we’re pop icons, and the president likes to use that type of thing just to be down. People was fine with me being everyone’s punching bag for about five years — ‘This is the person we love to hate, so if you want to distract people from everything that’s going on … just say you hate Kanye and there’s going be 30 other people who say they hate Kanye.’ That was kind of my position in culture and he kind of used that too — ‘Oh, he’s a jackass’ — because that’s how the world felt. I don’t care if someone’s the president or not.”
Ray J
Kanye changed the lyrics of one song to hit out at his wife Kim’s former lover Ray J. He rapped: “Brandy’s little sister lame and he know it now, when a real brother hold you down, you supposed to drown.”
Taylor Swift
Kanye couldn’t understand why Taylor Swift was given a Grammy instead of Beyonce, ranting: “Taylor Swift beat Beyoncé at the Grammys? Beyoncé be dancing in heels and s—.”
