The rapper has become known for ruffling feathers and causing offence…\u00a0<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]
Words by Nikki Peach<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-06-at-17.11.34.png” alt=”Jennifer Aniston” title_text=”Kanye” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”] Kanye West is not famous for being a wallflower. Throughout his career, he has delivered some of the most shocking moments and statements in pop culture history. Having quite literally compared himself to \u2018God\u2019 in the past, West boasts an almost divine confidence in his own ideas \u2013 ones he often inflicts on other people too.<\/p>\n From saying slavery was \u2018a choice\u2019 in a TMZ interview in 2018 to grabbing the microphone out of Taylor Swift\u2019s hands at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009 and saying her award should have gone to Beyonc\u00e9; West has long cemented his status as a provocateur.<\/p>\n It was his stint on the Grammys red carpet, however, that most recently put West\u2019s name in the headlines. The rapper reportedly told his wife Bianca Censori to \u2018make a scene\u2019 as she posed naked for photos with nothing but a clear, mesh fabric covering her torso, as West watched on fully clothed.<\/p>\n Was this an empowering example of self-expression, or another divisive West-esque publicity stunt? I suppose part of the allure is never finding out. While West has spoken openly about his mental health in the past, revealing in 2016 that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder following a mental health breakdown, he has since claimed he is not bipolar and actually has autism. Appearing on The Download podcast, he said he had been questioning his original diagnosis and came to find out \u2018it\u2019s really a case of autism I have\u2019.<\/p>\n As a public figure, however, his actions often have far reaching consequences, even with the context of his neurodivergence or potential mental illness. Let\u2019s look back at Kanye West\u2019s top 10 stunts over the years\u2026<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” global_colors_info=”{}”] Let\u2019s take ourselves back to 2009 when the fresh-faced new artist Taylor Swift was collecting her award for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV VMAs. She grabbed the microphone to begin her speech, as you do, when West leapt onto the stage from the shadows and took it out of her hand. \u2018Yo, Taylor, I\u2019m really happy for you,\u2019 he interrupted. \u2018I\u2019m going to let you finish, but Beyonc\u00e9 had one of the best videos of all time.\u2019<\/p>\n Swift, who was 19 years old at the time, was scarred by the experience and said it felt like \u2018a career death\u2019. Beyonc\u00e9 watched on looking equally mortified and invited Swift back on stage to finish her speech when she won Video of the Year. And West was booed off the stage.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/imago477133317-scaled.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″] When West collaborated with Louis Vuitton in 2009 to launch a line of high-top trainers, he was so proud of his work that he asked fans to address him as \u2018Martin Louis the King, Jr\u2019 moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n Here is the quote in full, for your benefit. \u2018Who do you know with two thumbs and their own Louis shoe? This guy,\u2019 West said pointing to himself. \u2018I\u2019ve been called a lot of names, mostly the \u201cLouis Vuitton Don\u201d, and due to what has happened so severely, when the red shoes hit the runway, I was forced to change my name to \u201cMartin Louis the King Jr\u201d. Address me as such.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Before West started dating Kim Kardashian in 2012, she was a chunky beaded necklace and blazer-wearing Calabasas Queen. \u2018I was obsessed with glitter, rhinestone heels and the kind of clothes I now laugh at,\u2019 she once said, \u2018and he threw them all out.\u2019 In one episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, her flat was swamped with big bags upon bin bags of clothes that West had thrown out as he vowed to completely overhaul her personal style \u2013 and in turn her public image.<\/span><\/p>\n While his styling earned Kardashian, and later her family, legitimate credentials in the fashion industry for the first time, his undue influence was often overbearing. In one episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, West criticised Kardashian\u2019s 2019 Met Gala outfit the night before the event. \u2018You are my wife, and it affects me when picture are too sexy,\u2019 he tells her. Adding that, as her husband and the father of her children, it affects his \u2018soul\u2019 and his \u2018spirit\u2019 when she looks \u2018hot\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n West made a habit of dissecting every aspect of Kardashian\u2019s look, growing irate if she stepped out of line. In one episode she tells her sister Kourtney that she had received an email from her husband telling her she cannot wear big sunglasses anymore. \u2018It\u2019s all about tiny little glasses,\u2019 she said. \u2018He called me afterwards. He told me my career was over and then showed me a picture of Marge Simpson wearing something similar.\u2019<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/imago62477280-scaled.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″] In the video \u2018Bound 2\u2019, the final track from his album Yeezus, West is seen on a motorbike riding through various green screen desert landscapes as his naked fianc\u00e9 sits on his lap with her hair blowing in the wind. It features wild horses, sunsets, the Grand Canyon and he and Kardashian appear to simulate sex.<\/span><\/p>\n For some, it was a sardonic play at white American culture, with West deliberately centring himself as part of the joke. For most, it was an intentionally bizarre insight into the couple\u2019s sex life and West\u2019s wildest imagination. A VICE review at the time summarised it by saying, \u2018These days, Kanye West constantly looks like he\u2019s coming up on a ten pound pinger.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Whatever the intention, it got a lot of people talking, and that\u2019s often what West is hoping for.<\/span><\/p>\n Ever one not to let things go, West called back to the Swift VMA saga in his 2016 single, \u2018Famous\u2019. Lying next to a wax figure of Swift in bed, West raps \u2018I made that b**ch famous\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n He claimed to get approval from Swift before releasing the song, but Swift denied the claim and later called the lyric \u2018misogynistic\u2019. Several months later, Kardashian released a three-minute video capturing part of the conversation between Swift and West in which Swift appears to approve part of the lyric. In 2020, a 25-minute uncut version resurfaced and established that West did not tell Swift about the specific line that caused offence.<\/span><\/p>\n That year, Swift won Album of the Year at the Grammys and seemed to refer to West\u2019s dig in her speech, mentioning \u2018those people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n West has never shied away from controversy, but his perhaps most offensive \u2018take\u2019 to date was when he said 400 years of slavery is \u2018a choice\u2019 in a TMZ interview in 2018. The rapper, who around that time expressed his support for Donald Trump, broached the topic of slavery after talking about the president.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sounds like a choice,\u2019 he said, rather astoundingly. \u2018You was there for 400 years and it\u2019s all of y\u2019all. It\u2019s like we\u2019re mentally in prison. I like the word of prison because slavery goes too direct to the idea of blacks. Slavery is to Blacks as the Holocaust is to Jews. Prison is something that unites as one race, Blacks and Whites, we\u2019re the human race.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n His comments were met by widespread incredulity and anger. Will.i.am told Good Morning Britain that West\u2019s comments were \u2018ignorant\u2019 and \u2018broke my heart\u2019. Civil rights activist Deray McKesson said West \u2018continues to fuel the racist right-wing folks who believe that black people are responsible for their oppression.\u2019 While TV host Marc Lamont Hill added, \u2018There has never been a moment in history when Black people didn\u2019t resit slavery.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Four years later, West targeted a different group. He took to X to write that he was \u2018going death con 3 on Jewish people\u2019. Sharing a screenshot of a conversation he had with Sean \u2018Diddy\u2019 Combs, West wrote, \u2018Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.\u2019 He also tapped into another antisemitic trope by writing, \u2018You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Later that year, during an interview with the right-wing pundit Alex Jones, West said, \u2018I see good things about Hitler. Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n His vitriolic comments prompted Adidas to cut ties with the rapper and terminate their partnership. It also led to an unsurprising wave of backlash, with the national director and chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, calling West a \u2018vicious antisemite\u2019 who \u2018put Jews in danger\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2023, West posted an apology in Hebrew on Instagram. \u2018I sincerely apologise to the Jewish community,\u2019 he wrote. \u2018It was not my intention to hurt or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused. I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s taking a divorce badly, then there\u2019s West. When Kardashian called time on their marriage in 2021, the rapper became known for his erratic outbursts on social media. He would often make baseless and derogatory comments about Kardashian, her family and their marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018If I get locked up like Mandela y\u2019all will know why,\u2019 he wrote on X. \u2018Everybody knows the movie Get Out is about me,\u2019 he wrote in another. The Kardashians did not respond to the posts, which have since been deleted.<\/span><\/p>\n His posts led to Khloe Kardashian issuing a public plea for West to stop on social media. \u2018You are the father of my nieces and nephews and I\u2019m trying to be respectful but please STOP tearing Kimberly down and using our family when you want to deflect,\u2019 she wrote. The emotional toll the period took on the Kardashian Jenner family was also explored extensively on The Kardashians.<\/span><\/p>\n In an interview on Good Morning America that September, West said, \u2018This is the mother of my children and I apologise for any stress that I have caused, even in my frustration, because God calls me to be stronger.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n In 2022, West married his former Yeezy employee, Bianca Censori, and their relationship has been nothing short of controversial from the start. After reportedly marrying in secret, Censori is often in the headlines for her near naked outfits, she sometimes doesn\u2019t even wear shoes. Meanwhile, West is always fully dressed and often wearing a mask or sunglasses.<\/span><\/p>\n In September 2023, the couple found themselves banned from a Venice boat company after being photographed on a water taxi in a compromising position. West was pictured with his trousers down while Censori appeared to be crouching between his legs. Following the release of the photos, the boat company issued a statement that the famous couple are no longer welcome on future trips.<\/span><\/p>\n A spokesperson for Venezia Turismo Motoscafi explained that the driver had not seen \u2018these obscenities\u2019 because they were looking out for traffic. \u2018We completely dissociate ourselves from such acts and behaviour. Mr West and his wife will certainly no longer be welcome on board our company\u2019s boat\u2019s.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n West\u2019s latest stunt was, of course, Censori\u2019s naked red carpet look at the Grammys. According to Nicola Hickling, who interpreted of a video of Censori and West on the red carpet for the Mirror US, West can be lipread saying, ‘Make a scene, I’ll say it’ll make so much sense\u2026 Drop it behind you and then turn\u2026You’re making a scene now\u2026 I got you.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n He very much appears to be the mastermind behind the look, or stunt, whatever you want to call it. In fact, that is in large part why so many people found the whole thing so uncomfortable.<\/span><\/p>\n She has worn some whacky things \u2013 from black duct tape pants to nude thongs and pillow tops \u2013 but this was Censori\u2019s most shocking outfit to date. If leaving photographers, fans and the entire internet dumbfounded was the objective, they certainly succeeded. It\u2019s hard to imagine where Censori\u2019s looks could go next, but we\u2019re sure West has something up his sleeve\u2026.<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/imago761922570.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”] Photo: <\/b>IMAGO<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” type=”4_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” type=”4_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The rapper has developed a reputation for being a provocateur <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6734"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6819,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6734\/revisions\/6819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}‘Make a scene… it’ll make so much sense’<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Imma let you finish\u2026\u2019<\/h3>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Call me Martin Louis the King Jr<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Everything must go!<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kim and Kanye go for a ride<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The controversial \u2018Famous\u2019 music video<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
6.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 When he said slavery is \u2018a choice\u2019<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Repeated antisemitic outbursts<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Kardashian takedown<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]
9.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Venice boat ban<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
10.\u00a0 Naked on the red carpet<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n