This is an Instagram from Kim Kardashian ā she was not in Chicago for this moment, but she honored her husband Kanye West as he received an honorary PhD from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Some people are bitching about Kanye receiving an honorary doctorate, butā¦ I donāt know? I think itās kind of cool. Most colleges give out those honorary doctorates to cheeseball local politicians and itās not like Kanye is now going to go by Dr. Yeezus (although that might be righteous).
The NYDN has an audio clip of Kanyeās speech and he soundedā¦ genuinely honored. He took it seriously, and he was moved to be receiving the doctorate, and it felt like he was thinking a lot about his mom. You can hear the clip here. At one point, he talks about being a pop artist, and whether itās a good thing to say āIām sorry.ā He ended up doing a funny little riff about George W. Bush (āā¦doesnāt care about black peopleā¦ā) too.
“I am a pop artist. So my medium is public opinion and the world is my canvas. āI’m sorryā is something that you can use a lot. It gives you the opportunity to give your opinion, apologize for it, and give your opinion again. You should not be sorry for your opinions!”
“George Bush … has some very cool self-portraits. I didn’t know he was an artist.”
Kanye pauses for a long time in between āGeorge Bushā and āhas someā and the kids in the audience all laughed. They probably hoped that he would say ādoesnāt care about black people.ā Incidentally, George W. Bush cited that moment at the Hurricane Katrina Relief fundraiser as āone of the most disgusting moments in my presidency.ā As in, Bush thought it was disgusting that Kanye basically called him a racist. Bush was not disgusted that he abdicated crisis management to incompetent idiots and left an American city to drown and rot. God, even typing those words, I get mad about it all over again. I wish Kanye had gone on an old-school anti-Bush rant.
Thank you SAICā¦ This is my greatest honor to date and would have been my mother – Dr. Westās – proudest moment. pic.twitter.com/UmbmkJDHhq
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 12, 2015
Photos courtesy of Getty, Twitter, Instagram.
Who is that smiling guy? That’s not our brooding, overly serious Kanye is it???
I know, right? He looks like a totally different person!
Great. You think it’s kind of cool to give any awards to a guy who promotes rape culture and slut shaming. I guess they are paying lots of money.
He’s happy to be recognized.
I’m glad he’s happy, but I’ve always thought honorary degrees were so bogus.
Plus one, people put a lot of time and money in earning real degrees. What is the purpose of giving a celebrity an honorary one?
Me too, I am not a fan. Getting a degree, at any level, requires dedication and work. These honorary degrees to celebreties cheapen the process
Kanye West has been working in the music industry since 1996..can you really say he has not put in the time and dedication??
Not for a PHD no
+ 1. I definitely think Kanye has earned and worked for it. Perfect name for your comment too!
@GlimmerBunny, worked for it how? I’m not denying he works but his work is no comparison to what a doctoral candidate does. Many people who get their doctorates not only go to school but also hold full time jobs.
@swack How rude to diminish the amount of work a musician does! Kanye also has multiple projects unrelated to his music going concurrently too. I don’t think most of us could survive a world tour (that can last years), while also writing and recording new music at the same time.
I’m not pointing the finger at Kanye specifically. I just think honorary degrees are fairly meaningless. They are used by universities to gain status and publicity by associating themselves with someone of note.
I actually agree with you GNAT that they should just be scrapped. I just don’t agree with people saying that he hasn’t worked as hard in his career as someone who has obtained a regular PhD. Also, he did not receive a regular PhD, so we should not be comparing the two.
@getoffyourhighhorse, it’s not rude, it’s my opinion. Sorry you don’t like it.
I think your opinion is rude. Sorry if you don’t like that!!
Well, then.. Based on this logic, we ALL should have PhDs for whatever fields we’re in . I guess Beyonce deserves a PhD from CalArts or RISD .
If they want to give her an HONORARY degree they are entitled to. That’s how it works. However she does not qualify for a formal PhD. So many people on this site have said that honorary degrees do not mean anything yet they are so mad that he got one. Everyone is eligible for these honorary degrees, you just need to be nominated and then the university will consider you.
Honorary degrees are total BS; however, one “well-known” celebrity (who is currently on most people’s sh*t list, right now) has used the title “Dr.” since he received his honorary degree 20+ years ago.
I have a feeling this jack-ass will do the same …
Ugh … I can’t stand KW and KK …
So glad you said that, GNAT. I totally agree that such degrees are absolutely meaningless and they are also demeaning to those of us who worked hard to EARN our degrees.
Yes! A lot of debt and dedication go into doctorate degrees. It’s hard to see them passed out like candy, for “cool” celebrities.
As someone working toward a real PhD, I am offended by the idea of “honorary degrees”. There is no reason for them at all. They hold no weight, they are a simple PR move. But mostly I find fault with the institutions that grant them, because while they granting such bogus titles there is a class of individuals working their asses off to complete a real one. A PhD program is NO JOKE. It is incredibly time consuming, incredibly expensive (with no guarantee you’ll ever make up the cost…my PhD *might* be paid off in about 50 years. Hopefully.) and require an intense love of the field one is studying. Yes, I am very offended, but for once I’m not going to direct it at Kanye. I really feel like the institutions that profit from their candidates should have more respect for them, and for what a PhD stands for. Give him an honorary gold star instead and call it a day.
Dr. Kanye West in his Dr. Kanye vest on his Dr. Kanye quest to be his Dr. Kanye best.
Love it!
Ha ha ha…
I actually read that in Kanye’s flow with his weird inflection.
You are adorable–that comment should go viral.
Perfect! Lol
It irks me when celebs or any one get honorary doctorates. I know so many people that worked hard to get their doctorates and it’s a slap in the face to them. I went to the website for the school and the highest graduate degree they offer is a Masters degrees so to me it makes this double bogus.
Hi Swack,
If an academic comparison can be made an Honorary Doctorate is more of a Masters than Ph.D. Other countries like South Korea just call em’ Lifetime Achievement Awards which is what it is. Colleges hand them out to celebs or other big names when they speak at college commencement. The school gets free publicity. The graduates get a celebrity guest speaker. And the celebrity gets an Honorary Doctorate. Everybody wins.
Wow, haven’t seen Kanye smiling like that since he had Amber on his arm… š
Also some of Dubya’s doggy paintings have a weird kind of charm, if only he’d discovered this latent artistic proclivity back in the 90s we all might have been spared some grief…
I have no problem with him getting an honorary degree, he is a master at his craft (I am a fan of his music, but not him). I think its hilarious though that Kim (of the very educated Kardashians) thinks this is a real PhD.
Because it easy to forget about truly calling people out on something important when you have piles of money and people give you pretend degrees.
But I forgot, because he put the confederate flag on his overpriced t-shirts, he is taking it back and racism is over.
yeah, it seems that one time in his life he actually said something to the point (the hurricane thing). I guess it’s sort of an accomplishment.
Go on Kanye!
I don’t understand why people are having a fit over an HONORARY degree. It’s common place in higher education especially big schools. Think of it as an award for innovation in their field not an actual PhD.
I’m not sure if they can call themselves doctor because of it or add PhD at the end of their name, but employers know that an honorary PhD and a real PhD are two completely different things. That is where it matters; for jobs.
Now everyone can calm down and applaud his award or comment on his rate, elusive smile making an appearance.
Just because people disagree with you doesn’t mean they are “having a fit.”
True, but a fit is just how I see it. Yes earned degrees are sometimes an enormous undertaking (I’ve been there…and about to do round 3). It’s just odd to me to get offended by an honorary degree when it is not the same as an earned degree.
I’m not offended. I just think it’s meaningless. But congratulations on your two, almost three degrees. Awesome!
+1!!!! KW isn’t the first celeb to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate, even YouTube guru like Michelle Phan was awarded one. An Honorary Doctorate has NO relation to academic achievement and should not be treated as such. Honorary Doctorate is more of an award to honor lifetime achievements or contributions to society hence why musicians, actors, etc. often get awarded one. Google is your best friend.
Some of us can agree to disagree but KW must be doing something right to stay relevant in the music industry & that justify a lifetime achievement award aka Honorary Doctorate.
The shade is that Tumblr was on it IMMEDIATELY and had a Side by side of him Big Upping Kim with a pic of her holding her Tits and he was “congratulating her on however many twitter followers” whereas she was congratulating him on this degree with a pic of him , ya know fully clothed and all
Yeah, my mum would be proud too if I earned my PhD. Key word being “earned”.
Just a little thought on the whole “everything that happened with Katrina is GW’s fault” mentality. I recently had to take several FEMA classes and get certified in various things for my job. It really opened my eyes to the fact that FEMA and the federal government in general are not designed to swoop in and take care of you in case of an emergency. What they are designed to do is step in an help to consolidate and manage the resources that already exist within a community. The problem was not that GW was just a stupid twat sitting around doing nothing, but more that then Mayor Ray Nagin was too busy taking bribes and laundering $$$ to be worried about potential holes in the infrastructure of the city he claimed to love so much. Had he spent more time actually doing his job, blustering about making it a “chocolate city”, and preparing for such an event, it’s possible that the city would have at least had better evacuation plans, etc. But by all means, let’s continue to blame someone who only had the ability to come in and attempt to clean up that sh*tshow after the fact. Ol Ray was convicted on 22 counts of accepting bribes and various such things and sentenced to ten years in federal prison. So I guess in the end he got what was coming to him for his being a blithering incompetent moron.
Thanks for the insight Joy.
Read awhile back how Harvard PhD candidates had not been able to finish their PhD’s (some after 10 years) because they could not find a prof to back their thesis… and then I see this article…. yeezus…..