USHER: KANYE'S RIGHT

Despite earlier reports suggesting Usher had disagreed with Kanye West's summation of the slow reactions of the Bush White House to react to the Katrina crisis, Usher has clarified his position - West was right, and started an important debate:

"Contrary to false media reports, I support the personal opinions made by my friend Kanye West. If it wasn't for his comments, there would not be an open dialogue about the underserved people in the Gulf Region. Our country is in a state of emergency - instead of the media trying to turn celebrities against one another - we should all come together as one and support the victims of this devastating tragedy. Let's all be a blessing to those in need."

Meanwhile, Kanye himself has been out, now relieved of the need to keep quiet imposed on him by the NFL, and talking to Ellen DeGeneres:

"People have lost their lives, their families, their homes, they have no place to go to. The least I can say is to go up there and say something from my heart that's real. There we so many bulletpoints that I had been hearing that wasn't on that teleprompter. I just wanted to bullet point these things that disturbed me so much."

He's about to come over ever so slightly Martin Luther King:

"A lot of time, people let fear get in the way of their dreams and what they need to do. And being in the situation I'm in, you have everything to lose...you can use your endorsements, you can lose this, you can lose that. But there's a whole lot more I could have lost... how about if I like what if I had drowned? What if I didn't eat for five days? People are so concerned with what they can lose."

Okay, Martin Luther King if King had held a Pepsi contract.

As the news media tries to rally support for Bush, West has become a convenient target for the right. Apparently, some news outlets were reporting "lustily booing" - Matt Drudge amongst them. Not so, counterclaim people who were actually at the Boston transmission of the NFL kick-off concert - some boos; but drowned out by cheers. And if the climate has taken so badly against Kanye, how come there are no reports of lusty booing from the other venues where the concert was simulcast?

music katrina hurricane katrina kanye west kanye ellen usher