S. Samuel
Hollywood star Mike Myers candidly speaks on rap heavyweight Kanye West's now-infamous Hurricane Katrina telethon remarks in 2005 and what went through his mind in the new GQ Magazine.
An excerpt from Myers’ interview surfaced online Wednesday (May 21).
“I don’t do many things. And I remember watching the television and seeing, because I’m a citizen now, my fellow citizens on the roofs of buildings dying. And I turned into my father, where my dad would shout at the TV. My dad hated injustice. I’ve been called for many, many telethons, hither and yon, and I remember just being so upset and feeling, ironically, that if this was white people on roofs, the army would be there in five seconds. And these are my fellow citizens, who just happen to be people of color, sitting on roofs for multiple days.” (GQ)
Myers also recalled his own facial expression he made during Ye’s moment.
“I’m, like, super proud to have been next to him. The look on my face is…to be honest with you, I thought I handled it well. I was like “This is what’s happening…” Because live TV is my milieu, and improv is my training, you know. It has been painful that the culture has at times meditated on my surprise, when it’s really the message, dude. The message, the message, the message, you know. There’s a world of fail culture, and it’s hardly a fail on my part to be next to the guy that spoke truth to power at a time when horrific injustices… [he trails off, point made]” (GQ)
Asked if he supported Kanye’s open criticism of former president George W. Bush during the Hurricane Katrina relief broadcast, rap mogul Jay Z backed his former Roc-A-Fella artist.
“I 100 percent agreed with the comments that [Kanye] made, because again … it felt like it was being done to black people,” Jay-Z said in an interview. “Like, all you saw on the news was black people with help signs and all this stuff, and then you have this picture of the Commander-In-Chief, who we all rely on, just flying by…Just the fact that he thinks that the worst thing that happened to him is Kanye saying something about him. Like, what? That alone shows you where his mind is. Are you kidding me?” (Associated Press)
In 2010, President George W. Bush said he felt Yeezy slandered his image following the New Orleans disaster.
“He called me a racist,” Bush tells reporter Matt Lauer. “And I didn’t appreciate it then. I don’t appreciate it now. It’s one thing to say, ‘I don’t appreciate the way he’s handled his business.’ It’s another thing to say, ‘This man’s a racist.’ I resent it, it’s not true.” (“Matt Lauer Reports”)
Check out the footage:
