“Kanye West not dead, but still an idiot.”

By Jason Tanamor

I was reading an article, and then another, and then yet another about rapper Kanye West dying in a car accident in Los Angeles. And like other media people, I searched on the Internet (Google is my choice of search engines) and finally saw that the story was false.



According to a story on MTV.com the rapper was alive and kicking, probably wondering who else to interrupt. Because you know that if the rumor was Taylor Swift being in an accident, West would have Tweeted or put out a press release saying that Swift had a good hoax, but Beyonce’s hoax was better and that she should have been the one rumored.

The article on MTV.com said “the rapper is just the latest celebrity to be bitten by fake death rumors, which rapidly spread on Twitter.”

It also goes on to say that “the fake death reports are just the latest to spread like viral wildfire this year, following on the heels of similar rumors about celebrities Jeff Goldblum, Matt Damon, Natalie Portman, Emma Watson, Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne and Miley Cyrus.”



With social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, what’d you expect? I mean, if people aren’t talking about celebrities nowadays, what’re they talking about? I believe Oscar Wilde said, “There's no such thing as bad publicity." In this case, it’s just that – bad publicity. Or more so, bad taste.

When you start getting families and friends involved, you cross the line. But I think this rumor is the result of West’s conduct on live shows. The most recent being his unscripted stage rant in the middle of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech.

Another example is West’s take about Bush not caring about black people. Notice Chris Tucker’s (who is black) surprised look at the end of the clip.



The good news here is that West is alive so we can look forward to another interruption involving Beyonce having the best (fill in the blank). Now all we need is to start a rumor about the Kardashians.



BYLINE:

Jason Tanamor is the Editor of Zoiks! Online. He is also the author of the novels, "Hello Lesbian!" and "Anonymous." Email Jason at jason@zoiksonline.com.