Capitalism has been pretty darned good to hip-hop star Kanye West and music mogul Russell Simmons. But the pair worked the millionaire-bashing Occupy Wall Street crowd this week all the same, enjoying the kind of welcome usually reserved for unwashed anarchists.

West, reportedly wearing his signature accoutrement, couldn’t stay long since he was quickly mobbed by the masses. Simmons reflected on his time with the protest on his blog Global Grind:

“It was amazing to see how people loved seeing Kanye West at Occupy Wall Street. His music and his art has always been about the voice and the power of the people. Kanye just wanted to come down and experience the growing movement that has opened the eyes of many around this country and around the world of the struggles of poor people. The energy at Liberty Plaza was electrifying and the momentum to get the money out of politics is growing quickly.”

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A savvy man once said: “The biggest factor in attracting aid is not the amount of human suffering caused by an event, but the amount of media coverage it receives.” 

Celebrities traditionally love to depict themselves as humanitarians, often rushing to seize headlines in relief efforts following natural disasters.   But are Hollywood celebrities politically selective when publicizing human tragedy?

The problem is that celebrity showcasing of natural disasters, such as concerts for domestic relief, can be politically touchy: They imply governmental inaction or mishandling, hence the “need” for private fundraising, and second, they highlight tragedy and suffering by Americans in our country.  Together these are political buzzkill for an administration in full reelection mode desperate to keep a happy face on the state of the union.

Does Hollywood tend to publicly spotlight American suffering when Republicans control the White House?  Recall FarmAid during the Reagan Administration?  Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp rallied to “help” the suffering of farmers facing foreclosures under a backdrop of relentless media presentation of their suffering.  Yet during the Obama Administration, more homeowners have suffered foreclosure and repossession than anytime in history.  Yet no sweet music there.  No nationally publicized Hollywood relief to emphasize the suffering plight of Americans under Obama.

During Bush 43’s Administration, “A Concert for Hurricane Relief” was thrown together with, well, whirlwind speed and nationally broadcast on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC, showcasing artists including Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis and Tim McGraw. Matt Lauer of the “Today” show acted as host of the telethon.  ”Shelter From the Storm” was another big Hollywood fundraiser featuring a Bush-bashing Kanye West.  Such star-studded Katrina fundraising is still ongoing.

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Every year we regular folk are blessed with wisdom from Hollywood’s elite: how to vote, worship, eat, what to drive, raise our kids, who in corporate America is making too much money, and who we should love and who we should hate. All while stars gorge themselves on private jets, third homes, and shaped tofu holiday dinners at 5-star resorts.

While we at Big Hollywood are quick to point out that celebrities can use their soapbox to do some good, but each time they open their mouth to tell us how to behave, they run the risk of losing the magic of their screen persona.  So to help remind you who spoke up on behalf of “all people” this year, here is a rundown of the 10 most asshat celebrity comments of 2010:

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10.  When Whoopi Goldberg went on O’Reilly to discuss her reason for walking off The View (i.e. plug her new book Is It Just Me?: Or is it nuts out there?”) rather than defend her position about the world having a “Muslim problem,” the two also touched on the issue of whether a Jewish kid or a Muslim kid is more likely to be bullied in the US because of his religion.  O’Reilly had the facts but like most good, Hollywood liberals, Whoopi just said, “I don’t believe it.”

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9. Mel Gibson finds himself on the list for having a long history of racist rants, drunk or not. He gets an extra asshat mention for not checking for a wire when being honest in the face of a Russian. (more…)

2010 was a great year for music, and these next few articles list my favorites from 2010.  We’ve already gone through tracks 25-11 for the top individual songs of the year, and today we’ve got the top 10.  If you’re angry that I missed out on something you loved, leave a comment so I can make sure to check it out.

10.  Gorillaz, “Empire Ants”

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“Empire Ants” is one of the few songs on Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach that doesn’t take a single awesome loop and drag it out for four or five minutes.  Instead, it’s got two loops!  That said, though it’s unsubtle, it’s mystifying as a tranquil, dreamy tune that morphs into a hip-hop trance track.  When the beat kicks in, it hits you like a ton of funky bricks, and it’s held together by melancholy vocals from former Blur singer Damon Albarn and guest Little Dragon.

9.  Robyn, “Hang with Me”

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Maybe there is hope for pop music after all.  Swedish pop star Robyn’s open embrace of ’90s electronic pop way after its heyday is a sign of authentic enjoyment rather than a cynical cash-in.  “Hang with Me” is a pop song that gets at a fundamental truth about love: strong companionship trumps exciting romance all the time. Robyn entreats her potential lover to confront and correct her when she’s in the wrong, to keep her confidence, to be present.  All that’s harder than it sounds, and to focus on these elements of relationships while warning against falling “recklessly, headlessly in love with me” is the kind of maturity pop music could use a lot more of. (more…)

Taylor Swift.

Now that that’s out of the way, Kanye West has a new album out, and it’s pretty darn good.  Not as good as all the other critics are managing to say once their spit glands dry up, but pretty darn good.  Entitled My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, aka “The Kanye album with the naked armless chick,” which everyone will call it in 6 months cuz that title is just truly dumb, West’s latest work is, as always, an ode to himself, his career, and how much his success invalidates the people who hate him.  That’s narcissistic, you may say, and you’re right.  West’s music has always been about the tension between his pride and vulnerability, the brief flickers of soul and morality from his Christian upbringing vs. the pleasures and temptations brought on by his considerable skill.

The latter has caused him a ton of personal trouble, from simultaneously dealing with a broken engagement and seeing his mother die from cosmetic surgery complications to becoming Public Enemy #1 after his VMA rant launched the “I’mma let you finish” meme.  And for how admittedly flawed he is, this latest album further cements how skilled he is, working as both producer and vocalist– quite a rarity in the hip-hop world.  He claims to “do the rap and the track– triple, double, no assist” on “Monster,” but in reality, he often does concede the mic to guests, acting more as an emcee or ringmaster than a spotlight hog.  More contradictions– one of the biggest egos in rap is also one of the most generous collaborators. (more…)

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Good to know Kanye West is capable of shame. There might be hope for him yet. Who would’ve ever guessed that after eight years of the worst kind of cruelty and vitriol aimed at President Bush that West would be the first to publicly take it back. Knowing the left as we all do, Kanye is likely to be the last.

My wife downloaded “Decision Points” to her Kindle yesterday and I made the mistake last night of thinking a few pages might help me doze off and ended up reading until way past 1am. According to the Kindle gizmo-thingy, I’m 17% in — which is who knows how many pages, but thus far it’s a riveting read and much more of an autobiography than the title implies. (more…)

When Andrew Breitbart takes on a left-wing news meme, you’ve gotta give him credit:  he comes prepared.  After drawing the ire of the NAACP for challenging their resolution against alleged Tea Party racism, Breitbart’s Big Government set off the blogosphere with video of Shirley Sherrod, a government official speaking at an NAACP-sponsored event, drawing cheers and laughter from her audience while recounting a time when she denied help to a white farmer solely because of his race.  While Ms. Sherrod went on to make a point about looking past racial differences, these questions remain: why did no one speak up?  Why was there only positive feedback from the audience at this point in the story? 

For which group is there more evidence of members assenting to racist comments:  the Tea Party or the NAACP?  

While the national leftist media outlets continue to fall over themselves trying to figure out a spin on the story that sticks, we at Big Hollywood thought we’d double down with some analysis of the NAACP’s treatment of racism in the entertainment industry.

For 41 years, the NAACP has awarded “Image” awards to black entertainers who achieve excellence in the arts.  Despite its rightful role in celebrating the accomplishments of people of color in the arts, the awards show has also been beset by controversy.  Several nominees and winners of awards have engaged in openly racist behavior.  For example, Jamie Foxx, a winner of multiple NAACP Image awards, called Miley Cyrus a “little white bitch” who should “catch chlamydia on a bicycle seat.”  The NAACP has yet to comment on Foxx’s remarks.  Going beyond hatred for one white person, rapper Ice Cube released a song in 1993 titled “Enemy,” with lyrics that state: (more…)

A few years ago one of the most culturally significant cities in the United States ended up under water and millions of Americans rushed to her aid. A lot of conservatives and liberals joined church and civic groups and headed to The Big Easy to help rebuild the city. The Hollywood elites got in front of the cameras and opened their checkbooks, which was great. They also opened their mouths and unloaded on President Bush about his lack of action which I found a bit pompous and hypocritical. Now their hypocrisy has resurfaced. As a friend of mine in Nashville might say, “They have showed their ass.”

Nashville is drowning and Hollywood is nowhere to be found. Country singer Julie Roberts has lost her home and yet Julia Roberts has yet to send help. Julie Roberts wrote my wife’s favorite country song  which goes, ”…men and mascara, always run…” Where are Brad Pitt and the rest of the Hollywood liberal elite who rightfully rushed into New Orleans now that culturally significant sites like The Grand Ole Opry and The Country Music Hall of Fame are under water?

When will Bono write a song? (more…)

Americans are debating whether Roman Polanski should be brought back to America to serve the sentence he skipped out on over 30 years ago for having sex (well, raping her, but he pleaded to the lesser charge of unlawful sex with a minor) with a 13-year-old girl. A large portion of society seems to believe that Polanski should face the music for what is truly a disgusting crime, but as we all know, he has his defenders for several reasons: a) he’s a nice guy, b)he’s a brilliant director, c) the art world is being made to suffer, and d) gosh — it was over 30 years ago. To coin a phrase, let’s just “move on.”

We all know that many Hollywood insiders live inside a magical bubble where there are no consequences for anything. Serial affairs, alcohol, drugs — everything is forgiven as long as you can make money for the machine (but they are against capitalism, natch), except that most heinous of crime of all: being a conservative.  And we all know that many of them place themselves on a higher plane than those of us little people down here in the theater and stadium seats and in front of our television sets, without whom, of course, Tinseltown would be nothing but a very large (and broke) collection of overinflated egos.

Proof of this “holier than thou” attitude comes right out of the mouth of one of the biggest bigwigs himself: Harvey Weinstein of Miramax pictures: (more…)

On television, how often do you see the Heartland, the South, or innocence portrayed as positive, or as the innocent victim of thuggery or artistic elitism gone awry? If I told you that it happened over the weekend, would you have guessed that MTV was the network that aired it?

As it turns out, Joe Wilson isn’t the only inappropriate interrupter of the last week. If you haven’t seen Kanye West’s shocking-only-to-people-who-have-never-seen-or-heard-Kanye-West-perform-or-say-words outburst at the normally classy and restrained MTV Video Music Awards, take 90 seconds and watch the train wreck. I don’t want to say it was awkward, but I haven’t seen a performer arouse that many embarrassed faces since…well, since Kanye West did the exact same thing at the European VMAs in 2007, which at the time was the most awkward TV moment since Kanye West hijacked a Katrina charity TV show to rant that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” (more…)

I am sure that Congress has a lot more important things to do right now but when we get around to looking at immigration can we get an investigation into how an alleged comic named Russell Brand got a green card.

I’m no expert on immigration law but I think in order to come here to work you have to demonstrate you have some special skills or talent that no American has. This rule prevents big multi-national companies from bringing in a bunch of cheap unskilled labor to take American jobs. For example, let’s say you are a bricklayer and you live in Poland. You may be a good bricklayer but if you want to come to the United States to live you need to go through a long process and show you have some skill that no American bricklayer possesses — unless you are a person who can sneak across the southern border,  in which case you are welcome to come and take an American’s job and pick up some free health care and education. That’s another issue and I have been ADD-ing pretty badly recently so I need to get back to the topic at hand: (more…)

While people fixate on Kanye West’s drunken outburst at the VMA’s last night, remember that he wasn`t the only bozo in the room. The other was British comedian Russell Brand, and worse – he was sober. He had no excuse.

When he wasn’t talking about his genitals – Brand joked about the differences between Britain and the US, saying, “instead of letting people die in the street, we have free health care.”

Well, he’s right.

Britain doesn’t let people die in the street. It lets them die in the hospital.

According to a report from last January`s Nursing Times, NHS hospital patient deaths due to errors have soared 60% in a single year period. Even scarier, according the Telegraph, nine of ten preventable deaths under government care are not even reported. Of the roughly 72,000 deaths in the NHS each year, only 3,200 are noted by the National Patient Safety Agency. (more…)