Oh lawd! The world crumblin’! Oh lawd, help jesus! Kayne West tweeted that fellas should wear a condom so that they are not taken advantage of by unscrupulous women! How dare he!? There is no such thing as an unscrupulous woman who would purposely get pregnant for the child support! Why would he even suggest such a thing!? Help! Oh lawd!
...at least that how I imagine the panicked shrieking of the internet to sound as they run around championing the latest Twitter controversy. This time, Kanye West, world famous rapper and douche bag, tweeted, “an abortion can cost a ballin' nigga up to 50gs maybe a 100. Gold diggin' bitches be getting pregnant on purpose. #STRAPUP my niggas!” He then clarified in another tweet, “It ain't happen to me but I know people." As expected, the twitter-verse came crashing down on him. The main response that the press is using to shame Mr. West is a tweet by lesser-known UK pop artist Lily Allen. She tweeted, “Never has a tweet put me in such a bad mood. This is wrong on so many levels.”
Since her tweet is being used as a catalyst for controversy, I feel it’s only proper that we ask on what levels is Kanye’s statement wrong? Is it completely beyond the scope of all possible imagination that an unscrupulous woman would lie about being on a form of birth control? Is it unprecedented that a woman would target a celebrity or otherwise financially gifted person in an attempt to extort money via purposeful impregnation? Is it irresponsible for a celebrity to suggest that people use safer sex practices? Is it wrong to suggest that women can and should be freely exercising their right to choose? Is it wrong to suggest that people should use responsible family planning? In case you’re wondering, the answer is no on all accounts. Lily never clarified what levels she was referring to, and a tweet asking for comment was not returned.
While I do not feel like this “controversy” needs the full court press, I definitely think that we need to acknowledge a sane and level headed direction in this otherwise one sided conversation. Kayne, while not particularly eloquent in delivery, provided his 2.5 million followers with one more reason to wear a condom. His reasoning is factual, medically sound, and healthy; what’s the problem here? I have sympathy for Lily, last fall she suffered her second miscarriage in two years. The accidental loss of a wanted pregnancy is terrible; however, the loss/prevention (accidental or otherwise) of an unwanted pregnancy is the time for a fiesta. While I completely understand that, for Lily, abortion would be a very tender topic, it is difficult to give her the sympathy that she seeks when the cause of her sadness is unnecessary and in some ways irresponsible.