Kanye West has been a regular fixture of high-profile award shows in 2015, but his appearance at this weekend's Billboard Music Awards didn't go quite according to plan. His renditions of "All Day" and "Black Skinhead" were so excessively censored that large parts of the broadcast was completely silent, and now Yeezy's reps have shared a statement on the matter.
The statement acts as both an apology to fans and a criticism of the censors who muted parts of the performance. As the short missive points out, some rather innocuous lines like "with my leather black jeans on" were muted, which may have made the songs appear to be more profane than they actually were.
Of course, Kanye isn't the first musician to get angry about being cut off during an awards show performance. Last year, Trent Reznor was upset when his Grammy performance was cut for time.
Read the statement from West's people below. Scroll past that to watch the Billboard Music Awards performance in question.
Kanye West was grossly over-censored at the Billboard Music Awards. Non-profane lyrics such as "with my leather black jeans on" were muted for over 30 second intervals. As a result, his voice and performance were seriously misrepresented.
It is ridiculous that in 2015, unwarranted censorship is something that artists still have to fight against.
Although West was clearly set up to face elements beyond his control during the live broadcast, he would like to apologize to the television audience who were unable to enjoy the performance the way he envisioned.
The statement acts as both an apology to fans and a criticism of the censors who muted parts of the performance. As the short missive points out, some rather innocuous lines like "with my leather black jeans on" were muted, which may have made the songs appear to be more profane than they actually were.
Of course, Kanye isn't the first musician to get angry about being cut off during an awards show performance. Last year, Trent Reznor was upset when his Grammy performance was cut for time.
Read the statement from West's people below. Scroll past that to watch the Billboard Music Awards performance in question.
Kanye West was grossly over-censored at the Billboard Music Awards. Non-profane lyrics such as "with my leather black jeans on" were muted for over 30 second intervals. As a result, his voice and performance were seriously misrepresented.
It is ridiculous that in 2015, unwarranted censorship is something that artists still have to fight against.
Although West was clearly set up to face elements beyond his control during the live broadcast, he would like to apologize to the television audience who were unable to enjoy the performance the way he envisioned.
