Thousands of people didn’t want Kanye West to headline at Britain’s Glastonbury 2015 festival, but their online petition didn’t move organizers into reconsidering their invite. So over the weekend, the rapper took to the Pyramid Stage and performed.
He also proclaimed himself the “greatest rock star alive on the planet right now” and got Kanyed by a comedian who gave him a taste of his own medicine, by walking up on stage and trying to steal his thunder.
However, the best thing about his performance was the way BBC tried and ultimately failed to subtitle and censor his profanity-laden lyrics. Obviously, attendees were also offended that he would be allowed to swear so much at a music festival that is meant to celebrate real artistry.
Because bleeping him out for the broadcast wasn’t an option because not much would be left of his lyrics, BBC Subtitles tried a new approach by replacing offensive words with words that sounded similarly but didn’t include profanity.
This way, they got “motherducker” and “shut the lock up” and “ligger / ligga” and so, so many more hilarious words. However, as you can see from the tweets below, whoever was working on BBC Subtitles that night eventually lost heart and replaced all with the generic “[HE RAPS].”
Twitter is still laughing about it, and if you think about it, it’s with just cause. You can’t invite someone famous for profane lyrics over and expect them not to sing them. But this is no way to protect those who are more easily offended by such language.
For comparison, the first video is the version without subtitles (obviously, *discretion is recommended for language that might offend). The second one is a snippet of this one, with subtitles added by the BBC.
Oh, BBC2 and your subtitling. Bless. #glastonbury #kanye #bless #motherducker pic.twitter.com/GC6X0mSGqu
— Aeth (@aethre) June 27, 2015
Subtitles still refusing to acknowledge what Kanye West is actually singing. #Glastonbury pic.twitter.com/lQhe79h2OE
— Amanda (@Pandamoanimum) June 27, 2015
@bbcglasto Subtitles can't keep up with @kanyewest... What's a ligga? #glasto2015 #Glastonbury #kanye 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/sjJVJBcJfh
— SugarPinkFood™ (@SugarPinkFood) June 27, 2015
No, BBC subtitles, I don't think Kanye West is singing "shut the lock up" lol. #Glastonbury
— david white (@davidwhite020) June 27, 2015
Meanwhile at #Glastonbury the subtitle department of the BBC have called it a day. pic.twitter.com/saNMRUbWyO
— Sentric Music (@SentricMusic) June 27, 2015
Bbc subtitles have given up on Kanye 😂 pic.twitter.com/3Fl3AGStfO
— JAKE. (@j4keyboy24) June 27, 2015
The best thing about Kanye West http://t.co/DsorYlEvJI subtitles! pic.twitter.com/xiHWv0SfE1
— Kevin Lucioni (@ceefax163) June 28, 2015
Best thing about #Kanye @ #Glastonbury is the subtitles
— stewart oliver (@stew_oliver) June 27, 2015
I LOVE YOU BBC SUBTITLES PERSON!!! #Glastonbury2015 #Kanye pic.twitter.com/2ka1gbebVO
— Swami Baracus (@SwamiBaracus) June 27, 2015