Nothin’ quite like being famous! Kanye West’s controversial, NSFW music video for his track “Famous” raised eyebrows and left jaws on the floor when it premiered at the Forum in Los Angeles (and streamed on Tidal) on Friday, June 24 — and we’re not just talking about fans!
“Why I gotta have the plumbers butt/crack showing WAX figure?” Chris Brown captioned a screenshot of his likeness in the video, sandwiched between ex Rihanna and Taylor Swift, both in the nude. “This n—-a KANYE CRAZY, talented, but crazy.”
Brown, 27, was the first of the 10 featured nude celebrities (12, including West, 39, and his wife, Kim Kardashian) to publicly react to their shocking appearances in the video.
The other celebrities in West’s voyeuristic video include George W. Bush, Anna Wintour, Donald Trump, Rihanna, Ray J, Amber Rose, Caitlyn Jenner, and Bill Cosby.
An aide for former president Bush tells Us Weekly, “That’s not him.”
“At this time, no comment will be made regarding Kanye’s video ‘Famous,'” a rep for Cosby tells Us.
A rep for Wintour had no comment, nor did a rep for Jenner. Reps for the other stars featured have not yet responded to West’s explosive new work.
The rapper previously made headlines when he dropped the track at his New York Fashion Week Yeezy Season 3 debut in February, which included the now-infamous line: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous.”
Swift, 26, later delivered a pointed snipe at West during her acceptance speech at the Grammys later that month, but West’s wife, Kardashian, called BS in a recent interview with GQ.
The Selfish author claimed that the “Wildest Dreams” singer had given her husband approval to use the line in a filmed telephone conversation, but later backtracked.
“Rick Rubin was there. So many respected people in the music business heard that [conversation] and knew,” the mom of two told the magazine. “… It was funny because [on the call with Kanye, Taylor] said, ‘When I get on the Grammy red carpet, all the media is going to think that I’m so against this, and I’ll just laugh and say, ‘The joke’s on you, guys. I was in on it the whole time.’ And I’m like, wait, but [in] your Grammy speech, you completely dissed my husband just to play the victim again.”
In the video, all 12 celebrities lie on what appears to be an oversized bed completely in the buff, their limbs tangled in silky white sheets.
“[The video] leaves you guessing as to which of the celebrities are playing themselves and which are presumably only there by the grace of some advanced prosthetic wizardry (will the real Taylor Swift please stand up?),” an article on the Vanity Fair website reads.
According to the site, the music video was “filmed over a period of three months and cycled through four different formats and several different collaborators until West felt he’d achieved the result he wanted.”
Watch Christina Garibaldi, Ian Drew and Jamie Blynn dish on this story during Us Weekly’s Facebook Live News Update.
