 Kanye West slammed President Bush during NBC's live broadcast of Concert for Hurricane Relief.
In an impromptu speech, the Grammy winner informed
viewers of the fact that Bush had given National Guardsmen the order to shoot at the residents of New Orleans caught taking provisions out of stores. Nervous, stuttering and angry, West pointed out that
African-Americans who were caught stealing in New Orleans were labeled by the media as looters, but whites doing the same thing were "finding" food. While West spoke, his partner a seemingly speechless Mike Myers, tried to return to the show's script.
West then declared "George Bush
doesn't care about black people." He didn't finish what he was saying after that because NBC producers cut away. When the telethon was re-broadcast, West's entire speech was played again, but without the statement, "George Bush
doesn't care about black people." An hour later, NBC issued a statement regarding West's comments. Here is a statement from NBC regarding West's comments on the telethon: "Tonight's
telecast was a live television event wrought with emotion. Kanye West
departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him and his
opinions in no way represent the views of the networks. It would be
most unfortunate if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight
and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in
need are overshadowed by one person's opinion."The hour-long NBC telethon purpose on
Friday was to raise money for the Red Cross. Other artists included Wynton Marsalis, Harry
Connick Junior, Tim McGraw, and Aaron Neville.
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