1. When Kanye Stormed The Stage At Taylor Swift's Win
Image Source / VoxDuring the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye made headlines when it shouldn't have even been anything about him. Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video when West decided to crash the stage, taking the award from Swift and declaring that Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.
2. When He Crashed Another Stage Because He Was A Sore Loser
Image Source / Entertainment Weekly
When Kayne West lost the award for Best Video at another MTV Music Awards show, he didn't hesitate to step on stage when the winners were accepting their award. He missed out due to Justice and Simian's We Are Your Friends, so he joined them on stage to express his disgust at his loss.
3. When He Fought Off A Paparazzi
Image Source / Rolling Stone
It's not uncommon for persistent paparazzi to get on the wrong side of celebs, and that's exactly what happened with Kanye. He wasn't happy when a photographer tried to get footage of him at LAX airport, and he ended up being arrested after getting into a scuffle with him.
4. When He Peed On His Grammy
Image Source / Daily Mail
He crashes the stage when he loses, and he pees on his award when he does win. It makes no sense. After calling the music industry's practices 'modern day slavery', Kanye refused to release new music until his contracts ended, and then uploaded a video of him peeing on one of his Grammy trophies in the toilet.
5. When He Decapitated A Clay Animation Version Of Pete Davidson
Image Source / US Weekly
When West released the music video for Eazy in 2022, it depicted the kidnapping, decapitation and burning of a claymation version of Pete Davidson - the man now dating Kanye's ex, Kim Kardashian. The backlash was dismissed as 'art therapy' by Kanye, but there's no denying it's disturbing.
6. When He Made His Speech About George Bush Not Caring About Black People During Hurricane Katrina
Image Source / Chicago Tribune
Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, a host of celebrities gathered to provide aid and raise awareness. West was hosting on TV with Mike Myers regarding the Hurricane Relief concert, when he decided to go off-script and begin talking about how George Bush doesn't care about black people.
7. When He Released That Monster Mash Video
Image Source / YouTube
West always intended to shock with his music video for song 'Monster' back in 2011, and he definitely succeeded. The video included a threesome with Kanye and two women, as well as shots of Kanye being groped by lots of eager hands.
8. When He Posed As Jesus Christ On The Cover Of A Magazine
Image Source / US Weekly
The image of Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns during his suffering is a well-known one, and Kanye decided to recreate it for a cover of 2006's Rolling Stone magazine, with the tagline 'The Passion of Kanye West'. The image even included blood dripping down his face.
9. When He Appeared To Light Himself On Fire
Image Source / The Harvard Crimson
For a listening party for his album Donda back in 2021, West recreated his wedding to Kim Kardashian - months after they'd decided to split. If this wasn't awkward enough, he then staged lighting himself on fire before he was joined on stage by Kim wearing a wedding dress.
10. When He Used A Racial Slur Against Trevor Noah
Image Source / TMZ
On Instagram, Kanye used racist slurs against comedian Trevor Noah, who had been making digs at Kim and Peter Davidson. He was then suspended for 24 hours, while Noah's reaction to it all was to call West's taunts stupid and racist.
11. When He Supported Trump
Image Source / US Weekly
When Kanye rejoined Twitter in 2018, he openly expressed his support for Trump, saying that both him and Donald were 'dragon energy' and 'he is my brother'. Trump thanked West for his remarks and support, while others weren't in so much agreement, choosing to unfollow West on social media and hit back at his comments.
12. His Tweets Against Kim And Her Mother
Image Source / Republic World
Kanye decided to post a series of tweets against Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner in 2020. His tweets spoke about Jenner apparently trying to lock him up, not wanting her to see his children, and also considering divorce from Kim Kardashian for two years. He's since deleted tweets.
13. When He Made Comments About Slavery On TMZ Live
Image Source / YouTube
During an interview for TMZ in 2018, West made his view on slavery known, stating: “You hear about slavery for 400 years. 400 years? That sounds like a choice. Like, that was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all? It’s, like, we’re mentally in a prison. I like the word ‘prison’ because slavery is too direct to the idea of blacks.” He was criticised for his appearance on the show.
14. When He Publicly Criticised Kim But Then Asked For His Family Back
Image Source / Black Christian News
Kanye criticised Kim Kardashian publicly for letting their daughter, North, use social media. Kim called him out for constant social media attacks, and days later, West posted a collage of photos of Kim and their children with the tagline GOD PLEASE BRING OUR FAMILY BACK TOGETHER. He has since deleted the post.
15. When He Hassled Billie Eilish
Image Source / People
Earlier this year, West demanded that Billie Eilish apologize to Travis Scott - and threatened to refuse his Coachella appearance if she didn't say sorry. The apology was in reference to comments Billie allegedly made about the Astroworld tragedy. Billie retorted saying that she never even said anything about Travis in the first place.
16. When He Vowed To Never Return To MTV Again
Image Source / Business Insider
Kanye West was nominated for five awards at the MTV Video Music Awards back in 2007, including Video of the Year. When he failed to win any of the awards, he didn't take it very well, and angrily declared that he would never come back to the awards ceremony ever again. But he was back two years later.
17. When He Called The Organizers Of A Festival 'Squid Brains'
Image Source / US Weekly
Kanye has always been one to speak his mind, and especially when it pertains to things he's annoyed about with his own scheduled performances. When it came to the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee in 2008, West's set was pushed back two hours - and his response was to slate the organizers and call them 'squid brains' on his blog.
18. When He Wanted Everyone To Know How Fresh His Suit Was
Image Source / US Weekly
Kanye is apparently of the mind that if he isn't going to win any awards or be bigged up by anyone else, then he'll do it all by himself. After President Obama's Inaugural Ball in 2009, he went on to his own website to show his pride at his own accomplishments, as well as wanting to tell everyone how fresh he looked in his suit.
19. When He Wanted Everyone To Call Him Martin Louis The King, Jr
Image Source / US Weekly
West has fast become known as a fashion guru as well as a music artist, with his range of sneakers and Yeezys. In 2009, he debuted his high top sneakers in line with Louis Vuitton, and it was enough for him to proudly ask people to refer to him as Martin Louis the King, Jr from then on. But then changed his name to Ye anyway.
20. When He Wasn't Impressed By His South Park Representation
Image Source / US Weekly
It's not uncommon for major celebs to make an appearance on hit animated shows like South Park, Family Guy or the Simpsons. And when an animated version of Kanye was made on South Park in 2009, West was less than impressed. He said his feelings had been hurt and that South Park "murdered" him.
21. When He Announced Kim's First Pregnancy During A Show
Image Source / BrooklynVegan
Usually you'd want to make a pregnancy announcement as a couple, at a time that suits both of you. But Kanye decided that, during a show in Atlantic City in 2012 on New Year's Eve, it was the right time to tell everyone that Kim Kardashian was pregnant with his child.
22. When He Slammed Justin Timberlake And Jay-Z
Image Source / Marie Claire
In 2013, Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z released their hit 'Suit & Tie', but following a performance of the song during a concert in London, Kanye West apparently wasn't a huge fan. He told the audience at the concert that he 'aint f**kin with that Suit & Tie'. Nothing like artists supporting artists.
23. When He Revealed His Plastic Surgery
Image Source / People
Kanye West spoke about Rob Kardashian's issues with body image and how his brother-in-law had left his wedding to Kim early because of his feelings about his image. Then West revealed that he himself had plastic surgery because he didn't want to be made to feel how Rob had felt, so he got liposuction.
24. When He Said He Was Running For President
Image Source / US Weekly
Maybe inspired by his pal Trump, Kanye decided he wanted to run for president. He tweeted in 2020 about his presidential run, inspired by trusting in God and building a better future. He ended up spending millions for presidential votes, but didn't come out victorious in the end.
25. When He Spoke About Abortion During His Presidential Rally
Image Source / US Weekly
Even though he wasn't successful, that didn't stop him from giving it a good go. In his very first presidential campaign, he openly discussed him and Kim almost aborting their first pregnancy. Then he explained how the pair had changed their mind. He went on to talk about enslaved people, his genius IQ and homeless people.
26. When He Officially Changed His Name To Ye
Image Source / Snopes.com
Kanye West revealed via a Tweet that he was no longer Kanye West, but now he should be called by the name of Ye. The name change was legally signed off by a judge in 2021, and his tweet included "the being" formally known as West.
27. When He Didn't Want The Divorce
Image Source / The Sun
West initially claimed he never received any divorce papers from Kim. He contested Kim saying that the pair are divorced on SNL, and spoke about his kids wanting their parents to stay together and how he wanted him and Kim to be together.
28. When He Made Public Pleas Through The Medium Of Song For Kim To Come Back To Him
Image Source / NME
If you're a music artist who wants their ex back, one of the go-tos is bound to be to write a song about it. During the Free Larry Hoover event in 2021, West performed Runaway whilst changing the lyrics to 'specifically Kimberly' running back to him. It didn't work, as one day later Kim had filed paperwork to be legally single.
29. When He Called Out His Mother In Law's Boyfriend Corey Gamble
Image Source / The Hollywood Gossip
In an Instagram post this year, Kanye set his sights on new target, Corey Gamble, Kris Jenner's boyfriend. His post included 'God has a plan to remove the godless Corey' and he also apparently removed Gamble from his daughter's birthday party after Gamble gave some music recommendations.
30. When He Dropped His Kids Off To School In A Firetruck
Image Source / US Weekly
Being Kanye, you can buy and drive any vehicle you want, but instead of dropping his kids off to school in a fancy vehicle, he chose a fire truck. The children played with the sirens whilst wearing firefight helmets before being dropped off for school. Kanye explained that if you wanna be the cool dad sometimes you gotta 'wear the fire hat'.