Kanye West's 10 Most "Kanye" On-Camera Moments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z8gCZ7zpsQ

Oh, Kanye. Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut.

His sincerity here cannot be denied. Kanye absolutely believed that Beyoncé deserved to win the Best Female Video her "Singles Ladies" video, and felt chivalrous enough to go to bat for her. But during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech was not the time to make that statement. This incident instantly turned Kanye West into a despised figure, a man whose narcissism knew no bounds, whose opinion was so important in his own eyes that it overshadowed the 20-year-old Swift's award. Beyoncé, to her everlasting credit, later invited Swift back onstage to finish her speech (after "Single Ladies" won for Video of the Year).

Many people watch this video and call it an example of Kanye's total egocentrism, and to some extent they're right. Without Kanye's confidence in himself and his conviction in his own beliefs, he doesn't take the mic from Swift and steal the spotlight. And his inability to think beyond himself at the moment of interruption clouds his reasoning, stopping him from seeing that "Taylor, I'm really happy for you" just sounds like damning with faint praise in this context.

It's funny to me that if Kanye had tweeted his thoughts about the situation--"Taylor, I'm really happy for you, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time!"--he wouldn't have garnered nearly the negative response. The cameras change everything, and Kanye has never compromised for a camera.