Last night, Kanye West asked his Twitter followers if they thought it was ever okay to use the word “bitch.” (Well, by “ask” we mean he tweeted incessantly for quite some time, as he is known to do.) “I usually never tweet questions but I struggle with this so here goes…is the word BITCH acceptable?” Kanye posited. “To be more specific, is it acceptable for a man to call a woman a bitch even if it’s endearing? Even typing it in question form it’s still feels harsh?”
Kanye said his tweets were inspired by criticism of his use of the word in his music, which (unsurprisingly) initially offended him. (Maybe he was also inspired by Lupe Fiasco?) But now he’s wondering: has hip hop conditioned us to love the word “bitch”? Is it okay to use if we modify it? Like, what if “we put BAD in front of it? Like you a BAD BITCH.” Eventually, Ye concluded that “bitch,” along with n***a, “are now either positive or negative. They are just potent and it depends on how the are used and by whom?”
The rousing discussion (with himself) also included the disclaimer “please excuse any and all of my grammatical errors” and the hashtag #thewordbitch. [Bossip]
- Kim Kardashian and her family use aliases when they travel, because privacy is a crucial aspect of their lives. Kim’s is “Ava Tar,” which is kind of cute, Khloe’s is “Joe Dash,” probably a mixture of her husband’s father’s name and her clothing store, Kourtney’s is “Betty White,” and Kris’ is “Snow White” (Kinda obvious there, Kris.) “I am sure this is what they will be checking in as if they come to New York for Fashion Week,” a source said. I mean, probably not anymore. But if you’re around and hear an Ava Tar call up for room service, now you know… [Showbiz Spy]
- The Los Angeles Times obtained emails back and forth between Michael Jackson’s promoters from 2009 which reveal exactly how fucked up the King of Pop was in the month leading up to his death. “Drunk and despondent” is how promoter Randy Phillips described him, for example. “I screamed at him so loud the walls are shaking,” Phillips said in an email to his boss. “He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self-loathing and doubt now that it is show time.” [LA Times]
- Stars: they’re just as neurotic and scared about death as us! Stella McCartney told Harper’s Bazaar that she’s terrified she’ll die of cancer like her mother, Linda, and gets regular checkups to make sure she’s okay. “It’s really hard because you think, ‘I’ve got to make sure I don’t get cancer for the sake of my kids, and I’m going to make sure my sister doesn’t get it for the sake of her kids,'” she said. [Express]
- Courtney Stodden’s mom wants you to know that her daughter will appear in Playboy, even though sources told TMZ that she would “never” be in the magazine after Stodden tweeted that she would be. “TMZ doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” her mom said. “Clearly, their ‘sources’ are different than ours.” Uh, yeah…clearly. [E News]
- Even Russell Crowe needs a helping hand sometimes: the star got stranded when he was kayaking off New York’s Long island this past weekend and a coast guard had to intervene. “He just needed a little bit of help, he just got a little lost,” the official said. “It wasn’t really a rescue, really, more of just giving someone a lift.” How much did Crowe pay him to say that to save his rep? [Digital Spy]
- Bruce Willis is considering taking Apple to court after realizing his daughters won’t be able to officially inherit his massive iTunes collection after his death. My first reaction to this was: “Get over it/can’t they just use your password?” But it is pretty fucked that, according to Apple’s terms and conditions, we don’t legally own the music we buy and you can’t pass on your collection after you die. Think of Tallulah! She has needs! [Digital Spy]
- John Mayer is banned from singing for six months because
he’s so annoyinghe just underwent throat surgery last week. But don’t worry, he will be blogging: “I’ll try and post more on here, but I’ve gotten really good at keeping my thoughts to myself and I don’t exactly see anybody starving for my take on things,” he (somewhat passive aggressively?) wrote on his blog. “But it might be fun to offer some kind of window into this very odd and slightly beautiful time…” Uh oh. [Contact Music]