14 DAY TRIAL // Kanye West dared to compare himself to Jesus so, when a piece came out claiming he’d said in a radio interview that he was “the next Nelson Mandela” and that, in many ways, he was better and more influential than the late former President, few stopped to question its veracity.
Twitter was ablaze within minutes, with people from all corners of the world rushing to wish Kanye either a painful death or the most atrocious and excruciating suffering for saying such things within hours of Mandela’s death and for daring to compare himself with an international icon.
Buzzfeed has a fine selection of these tweets and, suffice it to say, they confirm that, because of Kanye’s recent, completely shameless interviews, the world is ready to think the worst of him.
And the Daily Currant satirical piece that landed him in such troubled waters was perhaps the worst anyone could come up with – that would also sound believable.
“Nelson Mandela did a lot of good work, don't get me wrong. But I think I'm on track to do something even bigger. I liberate minds with my music. That's more important than liberating a few people from apartheid or whatever,” Kanye was quoted as saying.
“Not to say Mandela wasn't for real. I have mad respect. I just think we need to keep things in perspective here. Anyone can be replaced. And I think I'm well on my way towards being the next great black leader. I'm already worshiped around the world. And there's more to come,” he reportedly said.
“Not to mention I have a bigger market than he ever did. Mandela was working in South Africa, which has, like what, six people? I started my magic here in the USA and then I took my business global. Worldwide baby. I just want everyone out there to know. I see y'all crying on the TV. Being all sad. Just know that Kanye's gonna carry on Mandela's legacy. There's nothing to worry about. I got this,” the piece went on to say.
The Daily Currant has a disclaimer that stresses all articles are satirical pieces but, it would seem, no one bothered to look for it, so they just assumed Kanye had really said these things.
Perhaps the worst part is that all of this sounds like something the rapper would actually say: if he didn’t think twice before comparing himself to Jesus, why wouldn’t he think he’s just like Mandela, if not actually better. For once, something that Kanye didn’t even do speaks volumes of how he’s really perceived: a shameless self-promoter and egomaniac attention seeker.