[Today’s blog is brought to you by one of our PR interns: Dominique Hodge]
If you didn’t know who Kanye West was before Sunday evening’s MTV Video Music Awards you probably know now. His rude behavior has been the talk (and tweet) of the town for the past week.
The artist’s onstage interruption provoked conversations ranging from “Has he gone nuts?” to “Oh, it must be a PR stunt.” While I can’t comment on Kanye’s mental state, I personally take offense to the latter statement. Any PR practitioner will tell you that our industry is based on high standards and ethics. Professional PR firms would not advise Kanye West to jump onstage, and not only embarrass Taylor Swift but disrespect her as well.
In fact, this incident shows the need for artists, companies and celebrities to invest in a good public relations team. People may make mistakes, but with an effective PR team, you can turn the bad press into good press. With several public apologies already under his belt, he is on the right track to rectifying the situation. However, had Kanye sought the advice of a PR professional he might have prevented this backlash from occurring at all.
My advice for the future: I believe Kanye should first seek counseling to deal with the recent passing of his mother. After that, he should get involved with a non-profit or community-service organization to combat his public image as an egomaniac. And last but not least, I’d like to see a musical collaboration between Kanye and Taylor Swift on a track.