Back in 2005, the rapper felt entitled to the best album award at the Grammys, so he issued a very brazen warning during a pre-show interview. Then in 2006, Kanye had an onstage outburst when he didn't win at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
But, the incident that may top them all is Kanye's outburst during a 2005 Hurricane Katrina fundraiser concert, when he stated that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
According to Visible Measures, if video viewing metrics are to be believed, the George Bush comments will go down as Kanye's most infamous words. His inflammatory statements shocked fellow cohost Mike Myers, and the world, garnering almost 6 million video views online since their original utterance.
Visible Measures analyzed video viewing data from each of the four public incidents, and found that the Kanye West/Taylor Swift VMA incident is hovering around 1 million video views across the web. Their data indicates that while the inconsiderate interruption will overtake prior incidents, it still has a ways to go before it has the same online reach as the George Bush comment (which you can watch below).
Even though Kanye made a public, and seemingly sincere, apology on The Jay Leno Show last night, if history is any indication, we may not have seen or heard the last from the rapper. The question remains, however, are his viral and news-making antics part of a choreographed play for more attention and bigger album sales? Is it working?