An ongoing e-feud between Kanye West and US late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel was set to take on a new dimension this week as West was scheduled to face-off with Kimmel on this weeks show.
West and Kimmel, who is best known in the UK for faking a YouTube video of a twerking girl falling onto a flame, have been embroiled in a feud since West criticised Kimmel in a series of tweets last month. As African Voice went to press, West was set to appear on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday night.
West had lashed out at Kimmel after the latter spoofed a recent interview with BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, in which West expressed his frustration with getting knocked down in the fashion world and declared himself the “biggest” rock star in the world. That interview became a talking point in an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, where Kimmel highlighted his “favourite” part of West’s “weird” interview.
“Does Kanye West know he’s not supposed to be his own hype man?” Kimmel asked before showing a snippet of the chat featuring a rambling West. Kimmel then showed a ‘Kimmel Kid (re)Kreation’ spoof of the interview featuring two children in the West and Lowe roles, milkshakes in hand.
Two days later, West decided to begin his Twitter rant, sparking a feud between the duo, with Kimmel assuring his followers that it was not a prank like his recent “twerking fail” YouTube hoax. Kimmel addressed the situation that night on his September 26 show. “Did anyone else get a very angry phone call from Kanye West about an hour and a half ago? Just me? OK. I didn’t know if he was mad at all of us,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue.
After the commercial break, he revealed that West really had called him in his office earlier in the day. “He is very angry because of a bit we aired this week,” Kimmel explained to his audience. “He gave an interview to the BBC, and we had a kid actor take the words and re-enact it. We just had the kid say the stuff Kanye said. And apparently this upset him.”
Kimmel said West gave him two choices, the first being to “apologise publicly.”
“And that was really the only choice — the other choice he gave was my life … ‘your life is going to be much better if you apologise,’ and then he started tweeting today,” Kimmel said, adding: “And I don’t even know if I’ve seen some of these because they’re happening as we speak.”
Kimmel then read some of West’s tweets on the air and responded to them.
— “JIMMY KIMMEL PUT YOURSELF IN MY SHOES … OH NO THAT MEANS YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN TOO MUCH GOOD P*SSY IN YOUR LIFE…”
Kimmel’s response: “I’ve seen the video. I know.”
— “SHOULD I DO A SPOOF ABOUT YOUR FACE OR YOU F*CKING BEN AFFLECK…#NODISRESPECTTOBENAFFLECK #ALLDISRESPECTTOJIMMYKIMMEL!!!!”
Kimmel’s response: “Which, by the way, was a spoof. I don’t know if he thought that was the news.”
Kimmel said he still isn’t sure why West is so angry given that the bit was “pretty innocuous.” He then quipped “Finally, I’m in a rap feud. I always wanted to be in a rap feud.”
Kimmel’s track record arouses suspicions as to whether this latest altercation is simply another elaborate hoax.
