Tag: kanye-west

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I have already expressed my shock in seeing Kanye West’s wife near naked body at the Grammys. The bigger problem with Bianca Censori’s display of flesh is the attention it is grabbing from a compliant press. Since people are shocked, they are talking about it. I, writing about it now, am part of the problem. I apologize. It is just too big of a juicy target to ignore and I can’t help myself which is also part of the problem.

It is a self-replicating problem. Famous people know that they will get press if they do something shocking. The papers, because they think people will read it, publish the scandalous story. I, because it is a scandalous story, read it. Once the scandal has drained every bit of media attention, a new attention seeking celebrity enters the fray.

First, and most importantly, it is about absolutely nothing other than Kanye West’s need for publicity. He knows how to create controversy and he did it. But what now, other than a few more days of Kanye making the headlines, is this about?

This trivial event, also, reveals how sadly out of touch Hollywood and the Media is with the rest of the country. It’s both titillating and boring. Kanye has become so lame, so desperate for attention that he will ask his wife to expose herself in front of millions. The media will roll out all the really important people to talk about the controversy. Opinions will churn for days to come but nobody outside the environs of Hollywood much cares.

But West, Hollywood and the Media think we do. This has long been an explanation for the sensationalist press. It isn’t our fault. We are giving the public what they want. They want to see people behaving badly so we, wishing we could report on the serious issues of the day but also needing to make money, will report about it. We aren’t the villain here, the public is.

I am not sure what to do here. I understand. If perusing the headlines and you give me a choice about reading about the problems in the Middle East or a naked celebrity, I’m afraid I am going to choose the naked celebrity every single time. Between my need to be entertained and the media’s need to make money, I am stumped on how to proceed.

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Bianca Censori, Kanye West’s wife, appeared nude at the Grammys last nights. And everybody is “shocked.”

Of course, everybody is far from shocked. Given the arc of Grammy’s fashion, nudity had to come into play eventually and so it has. People say shocked because there isn’t really another word for the feeling one has of seeing a naked woman married to a powerful man coming to a public even in nothing. On the other hand, it is difficult to see how people can honestly be shocked in a world where there is 24hours a day cable television. Once I saw rimming on the White Lotus, I realized anything was possible. There is really very little that can be described as shocking anymore.

The problem with shocking people is that celebrity culture has upped the game so much that more and more flesh needed to be shown in order to count as shocking. A revealing nightgown just wouldn’t cut it anymore when the goal was the headlines West was after. Anyone can do a revealing nightgown. Kanye had to come up with something really big in order to top previous daring fashion choices. You have to give West credit, he managed to pull it off. He wanted to “shock” the denizens of celebrity culture and he succeeded. They claim to be “shocked.” Kanye, Mission Accomplished.

In the process, though, I wonder how anyone can really claim to be shocked by much of anything. If at each celebrity event, people are waiting to be shocked by what people are wearing, then the word shocked has become so debased it is meaningless.

In the meantime, West, ever the game changer, has forced the issue in such a way that the only direction to go is showing less flesh. I mean no flesh if at all possible. Mark my words burkhas and old fashion nun’s habits will be the next big fashion statement. It will be shocking, right?