Amy Love

Opinion Editor

aml7458@psu.edu 

On April 3, the annual Grammys awards took place. Kanye West was not in attendance for this year, yet he still broke records for most Grammy wins for a Hip-Hop artist. 

His song “Hurricane,” performed with the Weekend, won an award for Best Melodic Rap Performance. Another of his songs, “Jail,” which was another collaboration with the artist Jay-Z, won Best Rap song. 

Yet the rapper was not invited to the ceremony due to the “concern with his online behavior.” 

Lately, West has been notoriously pestering his ex-wife Kim Kardashian about how she is raising their daughter. West is adamant on not letting their daughter have a TikTok account, wear makeup, which are just of the few activities he has made adamantly clear through a series of posts. Kardashian does not let this stop her from raising their  daughter in ways that she sees appropriate. Kardashian has made steps to make sure their daughter is safe, such as always participating in any video her daughter makes on TikTok. 

West is still desperately trying to gain control, yet his attempts are futile. All he is doing is harassing Kardashian, to the point her new boyfriend, Pete Davidson, has to step in. 

Despite West displaying behavior that those with significantly less fame would be slapped with a harassment charge, the speculated reason for his invitation being pulled was his harassment toward one of the hosts of the Grammys, Trevor Noah. 

West launched a series of online attacks against “The Daily Show” host. The rapper did suffer consequences of his own actions. According to Buzzfeed News, his account was suspended for 24 hours. This was due to his violation of Instagram’s policies on hate speech, bullying and harassment. 

The reason West did this was to give a response to a segment Noah did on his show. Noah did have a segment commenting on West’s harassment of his ex-wife. Noah stated: “

 see a woman who wants to live her life without being harassed by an ex-boyfriend or an ex-husband or an ex-anything. If Kim Kardashian cannot escape this, then what chance do normal women have?”

West was faced with the truth and he did not like it one bit. The “concerning behavior,” as the spokesperson for the Grammys so lightly put it, is dangerous behavior that women face on a daily basis. Noah makes a well-out point; Kardashian has an immense amount of wealth and fame yet she is still subjected to suffering from his behavior. 

Even worse, his behavior is online, the public can see everything. Nothing has been done to stop him from acting this way, only himself when he violates the social media platform’s policies for hate speech. 

The Grammys almost did one correct action by pulling his performance. Even if it was done for his harrashmanet of someone other than Kardashian, at least they almost let him suffer the consequences of his actions. 

His invitation can be pulled but his awards cannot. 

Almost everyone can label his behavior as dangerous but he is still celebrated. He still decided to win, despite his “controversy.” 

His behavior is looked at, reported on so much that he takes up almost every story on Buzzfeed News, which all consistently say that his behavior is wrong. 

Yet he is still praised for his work. 

Will Smith displayed “concerning behavior” at the Oscars and he was banned for 10 years. 

Kanye West repeatedly harassed Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson and he still wins two Grammys. 

It seems to me that one man is getting too harsh of a punishment while the other is getting none at all. 

There had to be some thought, as he won the categories that this is not right. His nominations should have been pulled if his online behavior was “concerning” enough to remove him from the show. 

No matter how much fame and wealth one has, there is no protection from men who think they have control over others. And with an immense amount of  fame and wealth, there is no one to officially stop that “concerning behavior” and to stop praising them.