KIMYE Controversy: Let’s Stop Excusing Kanye

Kanye “Ye” West is notorious for his unpredictable, wild-card esq persona. From interrupting a teenage Taylor Swift’s VMA acceptance speech, to running for president, to calling slavery a choice – it goes without saying that he’s made a name not just off of his groundbreaking music, but his volatile character, too. Most of the time, these episodes of mania can be chalked up to a bipolar disorder (that is often glorified, publicized, and exploited by the media). For those that may not understand how bipolar disorder works: those who experience symptoms of this might undergo phases of extreme depression and extreme mania; when in this mania, one might experience exaggerated senses of confidence, poor decision making, racing thoughts, and more.Ye has been relatively vocal about his troubles in mental health and, for the most part, has received public sympathy, excuse, and understanding for his erratic behavior. There comes a point, though, where a line must be drawn. Since his (soon to be) ex-wife Kim Kardashian began dating SNL star Pete Davidson, West has exhibited behavior that is beyond troubling and beyond reason for public empathy. No way around it: it has been sheer harassment and intimidation.The saga of West’s media breakdown began on Saturday when he publicly stated that his long-time collaborator and friend Kid Cudi would not be included on his soon-to-be-released album, Donda 2. He’d proceed to release screenshots of his texts with a variety of people, including Kim, Pete, and Kim’s cousin. In a post that appeared to be a text of Pete Davidson reassuring Ye that he didn’t want to interfere with any parent-children relationships, the rapper labeled him “a d*ckhead,” “garbage,” and “trash.”Despite the extremity of this, it would appear that the situation could somehow proceed to get worse; Kanye would continue on rants describing himself as a savior for Kim and paint her both as a villain who’d ‘kidnapped his children’ and an irresponsible mother for co-operating a TikTok account with their daughter, North. He’d refer to himself as her ‘biggest W,’ post memes of a showdown between himself as Davidson, and broadcast questions regarding their joint custody.All the while, these scary and often threatening messages were conflated with grandeur acts of romance, like sending Kim a truck full of roses on Valentine’s Day, calling himself her ‘biggest fan,’ and keeping up a single post begging God to “bring [their] family back together.” This seems to reflect most of the pair’s marriage in general; Kanye was prone to large gestures – a great white wedding, a hologram of Kim’s deceased father, and private concerts were all facets of the two’s union. Alternately, their nine years together were also riddled with emotionally damaging outbursts. Kanye announces at a presidential rally that North was initially going to be aborted. Kanye publicly (and wrongfully) accuses Kim of cheating on him. Kanye claims Kim has terrible style and throws out her entire wardrobe.