kanye west (103 posts)

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For all the love Taylor Swift receives from the music industry and elsewhere, she has a rather vocal handful of detractors.

Kanye West's giant diss was the talk of the CMA Awards Wednesday night, but he wasn't the only person who questioned the starlet's success.

"It's too much too soon," Wynonna Judd told USA Today of Swift's numerous nominations, especially the one for Entertainer of the Year (which she won, along with three other gongs).  "Time is God’s way of keeping everything from happening at once. It’s just too much of a good thing too soon."

But comparisons of the hip-hopper and country star's comments end there.

Judd didn't blog an all-caps opus of a disingenuous apology, delete it and try again. And we're guessing she won't be appearing on a talk show crying and announcing a break from the spotlight.

Instead, she wrote a short and sweet note on her website.

"I understand that my comment about Taylor Swift's Entertainer of the Year nomination came across as a negative statement," she says. "My intent was not to take anything away from her talent and contributions to the country music industry...all of which are truly unprecedented for an artist of ANY age. Taylor is a beautiful, hard working young woman that deserves the success she has had and I support her as an artist and as a woman in the business."

Yeezy, are you paying attention?

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See what else went down last night in our 2009 CMA Awards gallery!

Taylor Swift was already off the stage when it happened, but...

Did Carrie Underwood try to steal some of her thunder at the 43rd Annual CMA Awards?

"How 'bout that?" marveled cohost Brad Paisley after Swift accepted the night's top honor, Entertainer of the Year. "Nineteen-years-old...Congratulations, Taylor. What a night. I can't even imagine a better—"

"And how were we? We were awesome!" interrupted Underwood, who sang and changed clothes 10 times, but lost out to the 19-year-old Swift for Female Vocalist of the Year.

And the show pretty much ended with that.

Remember when Faith Hill had to defend the so-called ticked-off look on her face when Underwood beat her out for the same award back in 2006?

Is this like that, or did the intentional hilarity of the moment get lost in translation?

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At least everyone looked pretty on the outside at the 2009 CMA Awards.

Not since the days of Will Ferrell and Tina Fey has Saturday Night Live been able to deliver a full hour-and-a-half of laughs, but leave it to Hollywood's golden girl to change all of that.

Taylor Swift played host and musical guest of the season's best SNL, and the country-crossover sensation did so with grace and dignity by not mentioning all of the things we were dying to hear—well, sort of.

Swift wrote a little ditty to kick off the show called "Monologue Song (La, La, La)," in which the star serenaded the world by discussing the things she would not be...discussing.

Like little ol' Kanye-gate, perhaps? "You might be expecting me to say something bad about Kanye [West]," crooned Swift. "But there's nothing more to say because everything's okay...I've got security lining the stage," the songstress teased as Bill Hader and Jason Sudekis joined her side.

And Joe Jonas got it worse. "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone, but I'm not gonna mention him in my monologue," Swift continued with a grin, "Joe, I'm doing real well—tonight I'm hosting SNL!"

Swift all but confirmed her status with rumored love Taylor Lautner, singing: "And if you're wondering if I might be dating the werewolf from Twilight," then stopping to wave at the camera, mouthing "Hi Taylor," and blowing him a kiss.

Outside of the tween realm, watch Swift take on the ultimate role: rocking the Kate Gosselin wig in The View sketch.

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Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Hey, we've got an opening monologue for Taylor Swift.

"Hi, I'm Taylor Swift, as you know," the teen titan could start off with on tomorrow's Saturday Night Live. "And I'd like to thank Kanye West for helping you know that."

OK, so the lines aren't funny. But they are true.

The SNL gig—as host and musical guest? The honor of being the first female country performer to pull that desirable double duty since Dolly Parton more than 20 years ago? The album that's been out forever and is back climbing the charts?

Yup, somebody owes Mr. West a muffin basket.

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The Kanye West jokes have already started over at Saturday Night Live in a preview for this weekend's Taylor Swift-hosted episode.

Who saw that coming?

OK, we all did. But one thing we didn't expect was a testicle joke—not around America's favorite country sweetheart, anyway.

On Monday T.Swift tweeted: "Starting the SNL process. I kinda feel like I might have a heart attack or pass out in the pitch meeting. I'm that excited."

We have to admit, we're kinda excited, too. Not necessarily heart attack excited, but as long as there aren't too many more Kanye jokes, there's definitely a sorta-looking-forward-to-it/please-don’t-suck feeling happening.

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What would Taylor be like with burnette hair? She would be a nice addition to our Blonde or Brunette gallery. Make it happen, Swift.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Jim Spellman/Getty Images

Celebrity deaths can be tragic.

Or they can be tragically ridiculous.

Thanks to the Interwebs, fake celebrity deaths have been running rampant. Kanye West supposedly lost his life in a car crash this week, while Zach Braff recently had to create a video to prove he was still kicking despite tales of a fatal pill-popping episode.

And by now we know that any star rumored to have fallen off a cliff in New Zealand is more likely to have slipped into an Internet hoax. The Kauri Cliffs have supposedly taken Natalie Portman, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks from us.

Some have died at the hands of Twitter and Wikipedia, while others have met dramatic driving demises. Needless to say, not all false death alarms were created equal. Some are definitely more believable than others.

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Get the scoop on all the celebs who survived their own supposed deaths in our Alive & Kicking gallery!

Jim Spellman/Getty Images

Finally, some good news for Kanye West.

A court commissioner has agreed to drop all charges against the act-first, think-later rapper stemming from his airport altercation with paparazzi last fall.

In exchange for the misdemeanor-free rap sheet, West has agreed to complete 50 hours' community service, which he will fulfill, per attorney Blair Berk, by volunteering at the Taylor Swift Appreciation Society American Red Cross.

She also confirmed during the hearing that West had voluntarily completed 12 hours of anger-management classes in his efforts to make reparations for what turned out to be the first of several not-so-uncharacteristic outbursts.

"I'm very pleased that the court granted a dismissal of all the charges," Berk told reporters outside the courthouse.

It's safe to say that wasn't the general consensus.

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It'll take more than a death hoax to keep Kanye West out of the news.

False reports hit the internet late last night that the rapper died in a "bizarre car crash in Los Angeles involving two luxury cars." While the tall tale never made its way to credibly news sources, it spread like wildfire on Facebook and Twitter, where "RIP Kanye West" became the No. 1 trending topic.

Thankfully, the star's girlfriend, Amber Rose, put the rumor to rest.

"This RIPKanyeWest topic is not funny and its NOT TRUE! He has people like myself and his family that love him very much," she Tweeted. "Its in extreme poor taste to have that as a trendy topic. It's totally disrespectful to make up a story like this where all human and we all make mistakes and to say someone died cuz of a mistake is ridiculous. U wouldn't want someone to say that about u Or someone u love it's not funny. #LongLiveYeezy!!!!!"

Of course, the main reason this story has become so popular so fast is likely thanks to Taylor Swift. People by the thousands are re-Tweeting versions of, "Whoever started the RIP Kanye West hoax, I'm happy for u and Imma let you finish…but Balloon Boy had the best hoax of all time!"

Aww snap!

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Karma's a, well, you know. Kanye may not be dead, but one, two, three major things of his have been killed thus far this month! Do you know what they are?

Where the wild things aren't is in a Kanye West movie.

A month after his mea culpa to Taylor Swift for hijacking her MTV Video Music Awards moment, the rap superstar is offering up yet another apology, this time to his fans for removing an epic Spike Jonze-directed video in which he stars as a womanizing, boozing party animal.

"Sorry I had to take it down," West writes on his blog without further explanation.

The 14-minute short, entitled "We Were Once a Fairytale," showed West playing a wasted version of himself, groping various females in a nightclub while his track "See You In My Nightmares" plays in the background.

After a brief sex scene, the MC makes a beeline for the bathroom, where he vomits and proceeds to stab himself in the stomach with a knife. The clip concludes as West pulls some sort of rat fiend from his gut, a Jonzian touch reminiscent of the helmer's latest big screen foray, Where the Wild Things Are.

The clip sparked controversy upon its debut yesterday, with critics calling it sexist. And he continues to make headlines for taking it down today.

Contoversy? Publicity? Kanye West? Go figure.

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Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images for AMA

One thing Kanye West is probably not doing in India—picking out textiles.

Two days after photos hit the Internet featuring a number of looks from his long-gestating Pastelle clothing line, the official word now is that West and his backers are closing up shop.

Talk about one day you're in and the next you're out!

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Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

Taylor Swift just got six more potential chances to deliver an uninterrupted acceptance speech.

And, for the sake of the inevitable dead horse-beating comparison: Kanye West scored a whopping zero chances to not let her finish. That's right, kids. Cut off America's sweetheart and you're as good as sitting out the next awards season. Or at least the 2009 American Music Awards.

The random triumvirate of Paula Abdul, Adam Lambert and Snoop Dogg announced the nominees for the AMAs this morning, and the country cutie led the pack with six nominations, including a nod for the nightcapping Artist of the Year Award.

Joining Swift at the forefront of the nominations is Michael Jackson, who scored a posthumous five nods, including Artist of the Year and Favorite Male Artist in both the pop/rock and soul/R&B genres.

Rounding out the nominated pack are Eminem, who nabbed four honors, and Beyoncé, the Black Eyed Peas, Kings of Leon, T.I. and Lady Gaga, who took home three apiece.

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