Celebrities and politics, volume #638
by The Panda Man · 11/28/2005 11:25 amYou have to love it when modern actors, rappers and other celebrities speak their minds on politics. Whether you agree with them or not, the results always end up being, well, different. Take rapper 50 Cent’s view on President Bush, for example. Not what you might expect.
50 thinks the president is "incredible … a gangsta." "I wanna meet George Bush, just shake his hand and tell him how much of me I see in him," 50 told GQ. If the rapper’s felony conviction didn’t prevent him from voting, 50 said he would have voted for Bush.
Gee thanks. I think. Mr. Cent also has big plans in store:
50’s next goal? He wants to market a condom.
Can’t wait for that one. Readers will also recall Kanye West’s displeasure with President Bush, and Mr. West expresses himself further in the same article.
Meanwhile, Kanye basically called Bush a racist on national television, and has since rethought his strategy for speaking out. "When NBC edited it out on the West Coast, that was a wakeup call," West told the magazine. "It let people know how censored we still are. This is supposed to be America, but you can’t get your opinion out. There’s all kinds of things I want to say, but I need to pace myself, to make sure my opportunities to say these things aren’t taken away too abruptly."
Apparently the national media attention over Mr. West’s remarks prevented him from “getting his opinion out.” Sure is tough being a celebrity in modern America.
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50 Cent thinks Bush is a ‘gangsta’? That’s a hoot. They might be pretty funny on a remake of ‘The Odd Couple’ though.
As for Mr. West, he should understand that a non-governmental entity such as NBC editing his almost slanderous comments, especially in light of the goal of soliciting donations for those affected by Katrina, is not an example of ‘how censored we still are’. He can say whatever he wants, but NBC is by no means required to air those statements. His right to free speech has not been infringed one bit.
Although it was a rerun, Saturday Night Live featured Kanye West as their musical act. He also did a bit backstage with none other than Mike Myers, who you’ll remember was onstage and uncomfortable while Kanye was making his remarks at this summer’s Katrina telethon.
In a nutshell, Myers told how his life is different after Kanye’s remarks. He is being followed, his phone is tapped, the IRS wants to talk to him, they’ve taken away his US citizenship but still has his Canadian citizenship to fall back on.
Good to see Mr. West able to make light of it.
Yeah, I have that problem all the time. Oh, wait a minute, I’ve never been on TV and had people treat my opinion like it’s worth more than Joe Public’s. Sorry, I was having delusions of grandeur.
I have an actor friend who is on a weekly network show. He came into town for the Thanksgiving weekend, and I was able to spend a little time with him.
He told me he is working on a documentary about world peace and that he was recently in Brazil. He had visited the ghettos outside of Rio and interviewed many people there.
He said that the people there liked Americans but thought we were too materialistic and greedy. I asked him how they got this impression, because if they lived in the ghettos, it was highly unlikely that they’ve visited the U.S.
From his explanation, apparently they get this impression from American movies and television shows.
He didn’t see the irony.
I spent a month down there a few years ago and find it no less funny now than I did then. The falvelas in Brazil would convince nearly any American that we don’t really know what poverty is. What is funny, however, is that there is an abundance of American culture down there. For people that think we’re too materialistic, they really do seem to embrace the materialism themselves. The irony is not lost on me.
#5 - Spot on Mike! The poor in Brazile have no idea as to the MSM. Babies are thrown to the streets to survive on their own. Many of these children are shot by the government, just to get rid of them. This is a horrible, horrible thing. Just kill them because they are too numerous.