Kanye West has apologized for insulting disabled fans at a concert. Sort of. Kind of. Well .. not really.
To recap, West halted a concert in Australia when he evidently deemed the crowd insufficiently engaged.
"I decided I can't do this song, I can't do the rest of this show until everybody stands up," he informed his paying customers.
Kanye scanned the crowd to search for people not standing. Unfortunately his investigation revealed that the fans not standing were unable to.
"Is he in a wheelchair?" Kanye asked. "If he's in a wheelchair, it's fine."
The awkward moment was captured by a slew of YouTube videos including this one:
http://youtu.be/ralBjk3WWTA
Many more are sure to surface as most of the fans had their smart phones up in the air.
Following the PR disaster Kanye's emissaries issued a statement to People and other outlets: "There was no malicious intent to offend. Anyone that has been to a Kanye concert knows that he asks for crowd participation."
Kanye's is hardly the first "mistakes were made" type apology issued by a celebrity. CeeLo Green issued a lawyered-up sounding statement of regret following comments about rape he posted on his now-deleted Twitter account.
"I truly and deeply apologize for the comments attributed to me on Twitter. Those comments were idiotic, untrue and not what I believe," he posted on his extant Facebook page.
And it's hardly the first time someone notable has waded into controversy by inadvertently insulting disabled people.
Vice President Joe Biden once told former Missouri state legislator Chuck Graham to stand up, unaware that Graham is wheelchair-bound. The veep recovered pretty quickly though.
"God love you," said Biden, who left the stage to greet Graham in the audience. He directed everyone else to stand in his honor. "Stand up for Chuck!"
Kanye, on the other hand, merely continued his concert after realizing his gaffe.
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