It’s been a while since Kanye West went on a Twitter rant, so you know we were due.
West went off on late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for spoofing his hour-long interview with BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe. Kimmel introduced the skit Tuesday on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” — which included two children reenacting the interview — by joking “(West) said he’s the No. 1 rock star on the planet – whatever planet he’s on.” Kimmel then asked “Does Kanye West know you’re not supposed to be your own hype-man?”
West responded Thursday in all capital letters, as he is known to do.
“Jimmy Kimmel is out of line to try and spoof in any way the first piece of honest media in years,” West wrote. “Jimmy Kimmel, I don’t take it as a joke. You don’t have scum bags hopping over fences trying to take pictures of your daughter. Jimmy Kimmel put yourself in my shoes. Oh no that means you would have gotten too much good (sex) in your life. You can’t put yourself in my shoes. Your face looks crazy. Is that funny? Or if I had a kid say it would it be funny???”
OK, so it wasn’t West’s best work. And it also might explain why he rarely, if ever, gets involved in feuds with other rappers. But that didn’t stop him from bringing up Kimmel’s ex-girlfriend, comedian Sarah Silverman.
“Sarah Silverman is a thousand times funnier than you,” West wrote, “and the whole world knows it.”
Kimmel discussed West and his tweets on Thursday’s show because, well, how could he not?
“(West) called me,” Kimmel said. “He said a lot of things. He told me I had two choices. No. 1, apologize publicly. And that was really the only choice. The other choice he gave was that my life, he said, ‘is going to be much better if you apologize.’
“By the way, he told me on the phone, and I swear to God this is true, ‘I am the most powerful voice in media. I am (Tupac).’ He said ‘I am Pac’ a few times to me. He said you will never be able to show your face at a 14-year-old’s high school football game and be cool again. He really is Pac. That’s right out of the Tupac playbook. … I don’t know why he’s angry. I thought the bit was pretty innocuous. But finally I’m in a rap feud. I always wanted to be in a rap feud.”
lgomez@tribune.com | @TribLuis
