Kanye West's Disability Idiocy, Arena-Style

Kanye West is a royal douchebag. But you knew that. If you didn't, then this should convince you.

The egotistical self-proclaimed "genius," "musical artist," and impregnator of professional fame whore Kim Kardasian, demanded that all fans at a recent concert in Melbourne, Australia stand up or the "genius" would continue to have a royal hissyfit.

He did. He even demanded that two disabled audience members stand up.

According to Heatwave, the "genius" had made the same edict at his Sydney concert, demanding that the entire audience stand up 'unless y'all sitting down because y'all handicapped'. 

Then, on Friday, it turned out that two of his fans had a disability, which didn't stop the rapper from demanding they stand up. When they physically couldn't. 

"I can't do this song, I can't do this show until everybody stand up. Unless you got a handicap pass and you get special parking and shit,' he yelled. 

Then a fan waved a prosthetic limb at him, and he was forced to start the song after replying: 'Okay, you fine!'
Then, when another fan remained seated, he stopped his song "The Good Life" and complained: 'This is the longest I've had to wait to do a song, it's unbelievable,' before getting his bodyguard to check that the fan was, in fact, in a wheelchair. 

Way to make them feel comfortable, Kanye. Once it was confirmed, he said:  'He is in a wheelchair? It's fine!' and continued the song.

The UK Daily Mail is the initial source for a lot of this reportage.

Stereogum posted a few tweets from fans. Huffington Post and AddictingInfo have video as well of his ludicrous behavior.

This is just astoundingly stupid. But else should one expect from this  "artist?" 

What's also stupid are gossip/media outlets still using the antiquated an inane term "wheelchair-bound," like Gawker , Stereogum, and a host of others. Radar Online uses the outdated term "handicapped." but whatever. Hey, idiots. They're not "bound" to the chair. They use one.

D-Listed dubbed West its "Dumb Bitch of the Day," adding, "Kayne is such an egotistical twat that even after he found out wheelchair dude was stuck in a wheelchair, he was probably still so pissed that he didn’t stand up. I bet he called wheelchair dude backstage after the show, demanding to know why his legs didn’t automatically fix themselves when he commanded everyone to dance. “I don’t get it; do your legs not understand how important my art is? You were in the presence of history’s greatest artist and your legs wouldn’t even work for me? How dare they! Your legs clearly don’t get how important I am.”

And the fact that, only a few months earlier, West gave a microphone to a wheelchair-using fan, doesn't excuse this megalomaniac. Him giving away a mic is like a chef donating a toothpick. And demanding that fans do anything like this is the height of egotism.

Having bothered to notice that guy, one would think that this "artist" would be sensitized to the difficulties disabled people face in concert arenas.

But then, why am I defending people –disabled or not– who were stupid enough to pay money to watch this jerk?

This year I didn't even bother to request a press pass to the annual Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco (which is surprisingly accessible), mostly because West was headlining, and I had no interest in being anywhere near a horde of Kanye fans.

But at least there, musicians may notice wheelchair-using fans, and as shown here a few years back at Outside Lands in a photo of ultra cool music fan Ryan Chen. Performers might not harass them, and let them enjoy a concert their way.

Unless you're the official douchebag of music, Kanye West. 

UPDATE: Sept. 17.

Australian disability groups are demanding that the "genius" make a formal apology.

A Contact Music article states: "
Craig Wallace, of People With Disability Australia, tells the Sydney Daily Telegraph, "To call out people for not standing up, when they are disabled and cannot stand up, in front of thousands of people, is humiliating. What if it was a young person who's coming to terms with their disability? It's arrogant to say every person in the audience needs to stand up just because you tell them to. Kanye West owes a duty of care and respect to his audience... Asking disabled people to show their handicap pass is patronising and inappropriate. He should apologise. Kanye West would also benefit from disability awareness training."

The "Genius" responded (via Gawker):

…It makes you just want to reflect on what are the things that are a little bit more sensationalized than others. ... Because they've got this thing where they want the masses—people who've never heard my albums—to somehow read a headline that reads negative, and think that I'm a bad person or something. I'm not judging, I'm just going to tell you who I am. I'm a married, Christian man."

Yes, that much is obvious.