Did Jay Leno 'Exploit' Kanye's Dead Mom?

By Jo Piazza Posted Sep 15th 2009 09:06PM

Watching Kanye West on Jay Leno last night felt a little bit creepy, like when you accidentally turn on a dirty movie with your parents in the room. Kanye's four-minute interview was uncomfortable for so many squirm-worthy reasons that we here at PopEater wanted to take a minute to dissect exactly what made us feel like Kanye and Jay got one over on us. After the jump, experts break down the Kanye-Jay interview, with one saying Leno took a "cheap shot" by invoking West's late mother while another says it gave Kanye "the perfect way to look sympathetic."

>> At the start of the interview, Kanye sat down opposite Jay and took off his signature sunglasses. Kanye never removes his glasses. We always thought they were surgically attached to his face, so just looking Kanye in his chocolate brown eyes was a bit jarring. "He was trying to be humble and human but we all know it's just hype," explained style expert Mary Alice Stephenson. Moments after he may or may not have gotten teary about his mom, Kanye seemed just fine performing 'We Gonna Run This Town' with Rihanna and Jay-Z.

>> Jay got all Oprah by asking Kanye what his late mother, Dr. Donda West who passed away in 2007, would have thought about the outburst. "Would she be disappointed in this? Would she give you a lecture?" Jay asked with a brotherly knee tap. "Jay asking about Kanye's mom was a VERY cheap shot -- and Kanye's reaction made it clear that he thought so too. But since he was in apology mode he had to take a second and not say what he was really thinking which was probably 'how dare you exploit my mother's death,'" Cooper Lawrence, radio host and the author of 'The Cult of Celebrity,' told PopEater. 'It made Kanye appear more sympathetic and Jay less so. You saw the hurt little boy who lost his mommy."

>> But we have to wonder whether or not Kanye's camp told Jay to broach the subject of mama to give Kanye a set-up for his excuse. "Kanye did seem sufficiently rattled by the question so that it didn't look like a plant. But I'm really cynical when it comes to this celebrity stuff, so as much as I'd like to believe that it wasn't a plant, it probably was," Gawker.com's Brian Moylan told PopEater. "Jay's mom bait gave Kanye the perfect way to look sympathetic, and lead right into 'I'm still sad cause my mom died' defense."

>> For some reason, celebrity apologies these days always include "taking a break" or "going to rehab" in their apologies. In 2007 'Grey's Anatomy' star Isaiah Washington checked into a treatment center for psychological evaluation following his anti-gay slur against co-star T.R. Knight. And in 2006 Mel Gibson went to rehab after blaming an anti-Semitic rant on alcohol. If only we regular people could take a little break every time we flip off the guy who cuts us off on the highway or tell our best friend her hair looks like crap.

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=719869&pid=719868&uts=1253132632

http://www.popeater.com/mm_track/popeater/music/?s_channel=us.musicpop&s_account=aolnews,aolsvc&omni=1&ke=1

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf

Kanye Says the Darndest Things

"It hurts me to see the old and very wrong version of the 'Paranoid' video get leaked all over the net... It's just frustrating when this stuff happens because I really care about the product." -- on an Internet leak of his new video starring Rihanna.

Shareif Ziyadat, FilmMagic

Kanye Mr. Humble' West

Shareif Ziyadat, FilmMagic

"Can't we give Chris a break? ... I know I make mistakes in life." -- on Chris Brown's alleged assault on Rihanna, and the media coverage surrounding it

Getty Images

"Please i beg you, give me a break!!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me be great!!! Who have i hurt so bad that they want to destroy me? Who have i ever spoke about so negatively? I just was speaking with our new president two days ago... And now this." -- disputing a false quote alleging he'd do bisexual porn

Getty Images

"I believe I am the greatest entertainer of this generation. I go neck-and-neck on Jay-Z and [Lil] Wayne as far as who's the best lyricist," Kanye West said in VIBE magazine's February issue.

Lester Cohen, Wire Image

"I am protecting my personal space since there are no laws to protect that for me," West said. "The fact that [a photographer] could get me arrested off a mere complaint, but I can't ask him to stop taking pictures of me is very lopsided." -- defending his recent scuffle with the paparazzi

Gustavo Caballero, Getty Images

"There were people who had the potential to do it but they went on vacation, so when Justin [Timberlake] went on vacation I made albums, and it just came out to be that." -- on Timberlake's supposed failure to become music's top dog due to a lack of new albums.

Getty Images (2)

"I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice." -- quote from a Nov. 12 interview.

Mike Marsland, Getty Images

"It's me settling into that position of just really accepting that it's one thing to say you want to do it and it's another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan." -- quote from a Nov. 12 interview.

Noel Vasquez, Getty Images

"If I was more complacent and I let things slide, my life would be easier, but you all wouldn't be as entertained. My misery is your pleasure."-- quote from a 2006 Rolling Stone interview

Amy Sussman, Getty Images

"We were obviously dealing with f------ idiots who didn't really have the capacity to really put on this show properly. They tried 2 give me a time slot were it was still light outside. I have a f------ light show dumb a---, it's not called glow in the dark for no reason squid brains." -- blaming the organizers for Bonnaroo problems.

Jeff Kravitz, FilmMagic.com

Tags: jay leno, JayLeno, kanye west, KanyeWest, taylor swift, TaylorSwift, vmas

Comments

(884)

Wednesday 16 September

By Phil K

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

It was the perfect thing to ask him. Kanye needs to be taken down a few pegs. It is too bad his mom has passed, maybe she could knock some decency into him.
Kanye is just a racist, egotistical celebrity wannabe.

Wednesday 23 September

By mark

Vote down Vote up Report this

Kanye isn't racist. you can't be racist when you are the oppressed. if anything, the media is racist, because every time a black person shows emotion, it's treated like it's the end of the world.

Tuesday 15 September

By Daisy

There was nothing wrong with asking Kanye about what his mom would say or thing. He has always stated that his mother was very important to him and that they had a close relationship. I think everyone should think about "what would my mom say" when they do something stupid.

By Kasey

Exactly. He wasn't asking the question of someone who has had a publicly stormy relationship with his mother, or about an absent parental figure, but about a woman that Kanye credits with being a major influence on his life and his morals. I also don't think it helped Kanye's image by making him seem sympathetic nearly as much as the article tries to make it sound like. He's still a jackass!

By pcakes

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I agree...He didnt seem offended just hurt b/c he knew his mom wouldnt have liked that. I think deep down he is a good guy but his ego and hollywood persona equal the Kanye West who lashes out at people and makes crazy remarks and causes controversy. It sucks that he had to realize that at the expense of Taylor Swift but i like that he appologized, and wants to again in person.

Thursday 17 September

By lizz

Exactly!

no. two wrongs don't make a right. Leno was wrong

Sunday 20 September

By Rick

If I had any disks with Kanye on them, I would trash them. I have seen jerks like HIM go on to be so big later and I have no respect for any of them because the wrongs I have witnessed. The scenes I have seen always cloud over any "good vibes" I see later from ThEm. With all the GOOD out there how about skipping over the brash, arrogant jackasses?

By Miss Marple

The age of civility is long since gone. Celebrities have little class and that seems to be the in thing. kanye fits right in with the crowd. I have never been a fan of Jay Leno and rarely watcged the Tonight Show. Not because of his lack of class but because of the phoneynessw of it. All his questions to his comedic guests seemed like prepared questions to feed their jokes. Plus, I think Jay might be a great person to know off stage. I liked him as Johnny's guest but never as his replacement. Conan taking his place is just moving further down the chain. He is NOT funny. Thank goodness for cable. We don't have to choose among the horrible shows the networks offers us.

By A.C.

You're right, celebrities these days don't have much class or much talent for that matter. You turn on MTV, BET, or some other music channel and mostly what you hear is vulgarity and asll you see is a lot of booty-shaking and such. I am SOOOOO THANKFUL that Whitney Houston has come back. I know she's had a lot of issues over the past few years, but in my opinion she is still MUCH MORE talented than these terrible singers that are out there now.

By krys

Perhaps it will give him a reality check. If you loved your mom so much, don't do anything that would have embarrASSed her because it will likely be embarrASSing to yourself Kanye! Who gave you the right to judge what is better?

By Jimika Evans

I wonder if you ever did something to hurt someone feelings in front of people. I guess we should call you an ASSet to the team of ASSets.

By Mrs. David Borge

I think Jay was absolutely on point for taking Kanye to task over what he did at the awards show. As an adult male and a role model, it was his responsibility to ask Kanye "what he was thinking" when he committed such an atrocious act. Bravo, Jay, not many men have the balls to step up to the plate and call these young men out. Kanye's mother, Dr. Donda West, would have knocked Kanye upside the head. And please don't respond with any of those stupid comments about race, I am a black woman, and a mother of 2 sons who are Kanye's age, and I would respond the same regardless of the race of any of the parties involved.

By moni

Good for you! As a mom I would have said the same thing. too many people today celebrity or not they don't want to accept any responsibility for their actions. Whats right is right and whats wrong is wrong.

I agree. Kanye's mother would have been disappointed with her son, not just because of his actions, but because what we saw of him at the VMAs was most likely not the way she raised him. And you're right: race should have nothing to do with this. This was a stupid thing that he did. However, I believe his apology was sincere and even taylor Swift forgave him, so why shouldn't we? As I said before, doing stupid things (at least in most cases) is not a crime. If it were, just about everyone in the U.S. and around the world would be in jail.

By CAT

Excellent! As a Mom, I agree!

Saturday 19 September

By susie

You are one classy mamma. Donate your dna to our future.
White mama of 2

By debbi p

Thank you for speaking for women of every color, every where. WE have put our souls into creating young adults who are intelligent, individual respectful and moral. Adults with those values change to world... unless they don't remember, after we are gone, what we taught them.

By Jack Smith

Kanye was the one who brought his mom into it publicly. In his blog post he said something like " Her mom ( Swift) said what my mom would have said."

By David

Jay Leno asked Kayne West the question about what his mother would think,because that what Kaynes Publicist wanted him to ask IT'S CALLED DAMAGE CONTROL and anybody who thought he was crying then it worked on them.

Page 1 of 45