Kanye West recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! where they discussed Kanye’s most recent album. Kimmel asked Kanye about one of the songs on the album, “Violent Crimes”. The song is written as a letter to his five year-old and six month-old daughters. In the song, Kanye begs his daughters to not grow up too quickly because he fears men will begin to objectify them. He raps in the song,
“Curves under your dress, I know it’s pervs all on the net
All in the comments, you wanna vomit
That’s your baby, you love her to death”
Kanye is imagining how sick he’d feel over seeing perverted men on the Internet objectifying his daughters.
In response, Kimmel asks Kanye, “Do you feel like your attitude towards women has changed since having daughters?” Kanye’s response: “Nah, I still look at Pornhub.” To make matters worse, Kimmel and Kanye proceeded to discuss Kanye’s favorite categories of pornography. The exchange was met with a round of awkward laughter and applause. Pornhub later thanked Kanye on Twitter and offered him a free lifetime premium membership.
Kanye West should take a look in the mirror. On the one hand, he decries “pervs all on the [Inter]net” objectifying his daughters. On the other hand, he admits to going on the Internet to objectify other people’s daughters. Kanye is being blatantly hypocritical, and the audience simply laughs it off. Objectification is no laughing matter, and countless people have been deeply wounded by the porn industry. A psychological study found that objectified persons are denied personhood and given lower moral status by their objectifiers. Multiple scientific studies have also shown the harmfulness of pornography, including its addictive nature and links to sexual violence and infidelity.
Kanye being on Jimmy Kimmel Live! makes the entire situation deeply ironic as well. Jimmy Kimmel made headlines earlier this year when he hosted the 2018 Academy Awards. In his Oscars monologue, he addressed the growing #MeToo scandal in Hollywood. While happy #MeToo was receiving the attention it deserves, people were quick to call-out Kimmel on his own hypocrisy. Kimmel co-hosted The Man Show, a show about beer and half-naked women, from 1999-2003. The show was extremely objectifying of women and promoted a culture of male sexual entitlement.
Once again, Hollywood shows their tone-deafness with respect to sexual harassment and assault. In the era of #MeToo, comments like Kanye West’s are inexcusable. Kimmel’s producers should’ve known better than to air that part of the interview given the #MeToo scandal. North and Chicago West deserve to live in a world free from objectification. Their father should take his own words to heart and stop objectifying women through pornography.
