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Student Kanye Follows on Twitter Is Not a Big Fan

By Zach Dionne Posted Aug 4th 2010 12:45PM

Student Kanye Follows on Twitter Not a Big Fan

Kanye West, who took Twitter by grammatically-deficient storm last week, elected to follow a sole individual, 19-year-old Steve Holmes (@ste_101) of Coventry, England. "I just commented on something on Kanye West's account and next thing I know he's following me," Holmes told the Coventry Telegraph. "I was like, 'Oh my God!' But about 20 seconds later I had 20 messages from people I didn't even know and my phone wouldn't stop bleeping."

Steve's followers shot from 60 to more than 1,000 in an hour. Now, he's sporting almost 5,000. But it's been strange, he says.

"A guy wanted me to look at his film trailer and people have been sending me links to their music demos -- as if I have some sort of influence over Kanye West. The funny thing is I like his music but I'm not his biggest fan," Steve said.

Kanye, who has amassed more than 400,000 followers in a week's time, kicked off Steve's stint of Web notoriety with the words: "You are the chosen one dun dun dun dun."

But 15 minutes of fame wasn't something Holmes was ever really looking for:

Later, Steve added, "I won't be speaking to anybody else, surprisingly not everyone wants to be famous. That's all I'm saying -- peace out," and "Just to clarify, I mean I won't be speaking to any more press/journalists."

Holmes, who is still tweeting, deleted the Twitter application from his iPhone after getting bombarded by people he didn't know. He's turned down interviews with the BBC, CNN, New York Magazine and Sky News.

"I didn't want to talk to any of them. Fame has never appealed to me. It's vacuous," the student tells the Coventry Telegraph. "I think there's an obsession with celebrity culture. The thing is I don't buy into that, but judging from the comments and messages I've had over the last couple of days, a lot of people do. Before this weekend I thought it would be cool to have a celebrity following me on Twitter but now I think it's really not worth it."

Holmes' feelings stand in stark contrast to those of the one person Conan O'Brien chose to follow early in his Twittering mania -- Sarah Killen, 19, who told PopEater at the time that the attention was "a blessing." Killen now has 29,000 followers.

► Kanye's First Day on Twitter: A Retrospective
► The Cost of Being Kanye: A Handy Twitter Roundup

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Tags: Kanye West, Twitter

Comments

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Wednesday 04 August

By Robin

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Steven must be an excellent student. Vacuous is the perfect word for "celebrity". "WAY TO BE A MAN STEVE!

Wednesday 04 August

By carlfifty

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he won't do interviews? isn't this an interview? why not take advantage of it? it would be cool to be known even for a short while. i think he will regret this decision later.

Thursday 05 August

By Boston Blackie

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Not it is not an interview. It is a statement. there is a difference. Look the words up and read and learn.

Wednesday 04 August

By kerri

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I think his reaction is kinda cool, refreshing. Good for him.

Thursday 05 August

By kimmie

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I agree. I think he should "Block" Kanye from following him. Of course, then, that'll be another big "story".

Thursday 05 August

By DJ

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Good job Steve, standing up to this shallow culture of egos and ppl who are so full of themselves.

Thursday 05 August

By bob

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kane's 15 min. of fame is well over !

Thursday 05 August

By fred

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Oh, for heaven's sake lighten up kid and have some fun. Bit of wanker aren't you?

Thursday 05 August

By noreenarshad

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Well, I applaud this guy on his realism and coolness. So mature and fresh for his age, at a time when one's peaceful life starts to falter in and out of conscienceness. Anyone who calls him something like "too serious" doesn't know what I'm like. :-D

Thursday 05 August

By Dennis Robart

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Too bad the rapper couldn't choose a follower who would play the celeb bullcrap. He should have tried to find a more experienced person- perhaps a VET or two who would tell him (KW) to go be a real STAR and serve his country, like so many of our unspoiled and not greed driven Baby Boom generation have.

His rap junk career isn't worth a moment's consideration from our group!!

Thursday 05 August

By Marc

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Funny how someone who claims to think that fame is "vacuous" and that "...there's an obsession with celebrity culture...", takes the time to twitter a D-List celebrity such as Kanye West.

Thursday 05 August

By tangilct

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Funny, because to thousands of my generation (Apparently Generation Twitter), Kanye is pretty much an A-list Celebrity (as seen by the 400,000+ followers). I don't follow celebrities on twitter, but Kanye was the only person I broke that rule for.

Good going, Steve, for keeping your head.

Thursday 05 August

By Diana

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Way to go Steve. It sounds like Steve is mature beyond his years.
I like Steve, hes sounds like a very smart young man.

Thursday 05 August

By Chelsea

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I would do the same thing he did if Kanye was "following" me. Paul McCartney or Mick Jagger - - that's a different story!

Thursday 05 August

By Boston

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No I think that would be you. If you don't see it for what it is I feel sorry for you. It is unwanted attention for no real use.

Thursday 05 August

By Donna R

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Does that make Kanye a stalker? lol

Thursday 05 August

By nligh10ndsoul2

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Kanye has been a train wreck for some time, he must be getting ready to drop a new album. The punk has no respect, look what he did during that awards show.
Anyone that supports this clown by purchasing his music is a fool.

Thursday 05 August

By dreamrunr

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Not a big fan of Kanye myself, his music is ok, after his actions at awards ceremonies I have deleted ALL his music from my hard drive! I am a DJ in a club and anytime someone asks to hear Kanye....my reply is Sorry....don't have it!

Thursday 05 August

By Moanalott

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@Chelsea--and anyone else for that matter--the correct operative is "if Kanye WERE following me". I'm sure that it's used appropriately in pop music--NOT-Ha!

Thursday 05 August

By lill

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lol because of the whole t swift mess, u stop listening to him??white people are sooo funny rofl

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