Kanye Interrupts / Imma Let You Finish (2009)Researching

added Sep 14, 2009 at 11:57PM UTC

92 Comments
Suggest Changes

part of a series on Exploitables

Kanye West Interrupts Taylor Swift

Sunday, September 13th, 2009:

At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift won the award for Best Female Video. However, as she began her acceptance speech, Kanye West suddenly appeared on the stage, stole the mic, and told the crowd that Beyonce’s video should have won, as it is “one of the best videos of all time.” He then handed the mic back to Taylor and stormed off the stage. Because Kanye had taken up Taylor’s time, the show cut to commercial before she could continue.

Later in the evening, after Beyonce won Video of the Year, she invited Taylor onstage to finish her speech.
Kanye was reportedly thrown out, and upon returning home, an apology on his blog, written in his signature ALL CAPS STYLE!!!!!!!!!

By Monday Kanye’s interruption was the top news being covered by every mainstream news and media outlet.

The first mashup, Obama interrupted by Kanye

Early Monday morning, Youtube user freeyourpixels created a mashup of Kanye interrupting President Obama. Last week, President Obama spoke before Congress about Health Care reform. During the speech, Republican Representative Joe Wilson heckled te President, interjecting with “You Lie.”

By marrying these two interruptions together into one parody video, and being the first to do so, freeyourpixels became the number one most viewed Youtube channel of the day, and the video was viewed over 1.5 million times in under 24 hours.

Roughly 80 people reuploaded freeyourpixels video.

Obama Calls Kanye a Jackass

The Huffington Post reports that President Obama called Kanye a “jackass” in an off-the-record portion of an interview yesterday with CNC.


ABC News reporter Terry Moran reportedly tweeted the following:


“Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a “jackass” for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential."

Although this was viewed by many as a breach of journalist ethics for publicizing off-the-record remarks, it clearly serves as an indicator of the scale of this outburst.

UPDATE
Thanks to user >>DoB<< for finding audio.

Kanye’s initial Apology was turned into a song.

For reasons that are currently unknown, Kanye removed his first apology from his blog.

Kanye Apologizes again.

Monday night, Kanye appeared as a guest on Jay Leno and offered an apology for his outburst.

Taylor Swift Accepts Kanye’s Apology

Yesterday, Taylor swift appeared on daytime talk show The View, where she stated that Kanye had not done anything to get in contact and apologize personally.[video has been removed]

According to a report from the Associated Press, following Swift’s appearance on the View, Kanye called her to apologize personally, which she accepted.

A sample of response videos

Image macros

On the night of the 13th and morning of the 14th, people on forums across the web began, including 4chan began photoshopping Kanye onto dozens of backgrounds. Before long, a common theme began to dominate the theme of the most popular images’ a Kanye madlib.

“Look X, I’m really [adjective] for you. Imma Let you finish. But Y is the [hyperbole] of all time.”

The second trend involves a traditional four-panel comic, in which Kanye steals the mic (first panel), asks a joke (second panel), tells the punchline (third panel), and then shrugs (fourth panel).

By Monday and Tuesday, Kanye image macros flowed steadily through Tumblr, and at least three new Tumblog dedicated to the new meme has been created.

A few Single Serving Sites revolving around Kanye were created.

Exploitables – Make Your Own Kanye

By September 15th, a Kanye template for the Aviary photo-editing web appled to further Imma Let You Finish exploitability.

Twitter

Kanye was the #1 top Trending Topic during September 14th and part of the 15th.
As of 7:30PM September 15th, Kanye West was still a hot trend on Twitter, although the majority of activity is made up of those who are still just finding out about it or taking polls about it.

The night of Septeber 16th, Kanye fell to the #3 Trending topic, then down to #5.
A botnet of fake accounts began spamming away with Kanye Messages and links to bogus virus-protection software. Most of the tweets at this point consisted of a mixture of those who were looking to drive traffic to their websites. and those who had simply just found out about the Kanye meme.

Many were still creating new instances of memebrids that were already old, such as “I’ma let you finish” mashed up with “Yo Dawg”, “Patrick Swayze’s death” and “Chuck Norris.” Many tweeted as if they believed they had been the first to put these elements together, which may be evidence of a predictable thought pattern amongst the twitter users caught up in a developing meme.

By the morning of Thursday the 17th, Kanye was back up to the #4 Twitter trending topic. Ashton Kutcher, (@aplusk) had just tweeted the Patrick Swayze Funeral variant, and exposed his millions of followers to the joke well after it had first surfaced. This caused the Partick Swayze variant to experience a resurgence in popularity.

The memetic reaction to Kanye’s outburst only represents a fraction of the entire ordeal, but the spread and popularity of the Kanye parodies on Twitter is largely independent of the rest of the Kanye comments.

Google Insights Analysis

Searches for Kanye West on Monday the 14th have been the highest they have ever been for the artist, and dwarf interest in the Christian Bale rant.

It is safe to say that not only did this one event overshadow anything Kanye West has ever done, but seems to have spread the farthest, proliferated the furthest, and mutated the most in the shortest amount of time when compared to other Internet Memes that we’ve looked at.

In the following trends we see how much of the public interest in Kanye West has had a strong correlation with the VMAs.

Showing 1-100 of 264 photos

Add Photo

Login or Sign Up to add photos.

92 Comments

Deuxieme_en_pie
Sep 15, 2009 at 01:33AM UTC , Deuxieme_en_pie wrote:

Oh man, this is everywhere. I don’t see why this wouldn’t be considered a meme.

BlackDoomShadow
Sep 15, 2009 at 02:41AM UTC , BlackDoomShadow wrote:

I’m pretty sure an offensive name like that is not going to catch on anywhere but /b/. Everywhere else is just referring to it as “Kanye interrupts _____”.

Jest
Sep 15, 2009 at 07:38AM UTC , Jest wrote:

I am highly amused by this meme. XD

Fosty99
Sep 15, 2009 at 11:06AM UTC , Fosty99 wrote:

lol I didn’t think this many images would have sprung up by now O.O

@Deuxieme: sif dude, this is like an instant meme.

reeko_htown
Sep 15, 2009 at 01:33PM UTC , reeko_htown wrote:

I agree, this is a meme.

Jamie Dubs
Sep 15, 2009 at 03:59PM UTC , Jamie Dubs wrote:

Original clip:

Mike Amato
Sep 15, 2009 at 04:01PM UTC , Mike Amato wrote:

HEY! The gay fish man actually did a funny! 8D

Jamie Dubs
Sep 15, 2009 at 04:01PM UTC , Jamie Dubs wrote:

Kanye apologizes on Leno

Jamie Dubs
Sep 15, 2009 at 04:13PM UTC , Jamie Dubs wrote:

Documenting other people who submitted this as I’m going to flush out the dupes…
barttool, memenig, stevecarrellpop, londasgt, theGreatZamboni, Allyourbasearebelongtous2, thatsgoodkarma, tas2viex, reeko_htown

Andre Alessi
Sep 15, 2009 at 07:35PM UTC , Andre Alessi wrote:

There’s a bunch more image macros on this Tumblr feed: http://kanyegate.tumblr.com

>>DoB<<
Sep 15, 2009 at 08:55PM UTC , >>DoB<< wrote:

Audio of Obama calling Kanye a jackass

Captain Blubber
Sep 15, 2009 at 08:59PM UTC , Captain Blubber wrote:

Hitler is also upset.

epic win
Sep 15, 2009 at 09:34PM UTC , epic win wrote:

i was just about to troll about this being an event,not a meme but your right it is a meme!

Chris Menning
Sep 15, 2009 at 10:02PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Not a single YTMND created about Kanye since May. that, I did not exepct.
http://ytmnd.com/search?q=kanye&amp;o=|7|all|D|D|0|

34GET
Sep 15, 2009 at 10:28PM UTC , 34GET wrote:

win.
this will die fast though. i’ll give it till friday. but you can never know with anon

BanjoBoy123
Sep 15, 2009 at 10:32PM UTC , BanjoBoy123 wrote:

Haha, I love this meme.

MommaDiesel
Sep 15, 2009 at 10:43PM UTC , MommaDiesel wrote:

WIN

Chris Menning
Sep 15, 2009 at 11:11PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

@34GET,
You’re right. I think most of this are expecting to see this have a similar lifespan as the Christian Bale rant. But who knows? Some elements of it may stick around for a while. It’ll be an interesting one to check back on.

Larvinator
Sep 15, 2009 at 11:28PM UTC , Larvinator wrote:

I love all the images, but the one with Candle Jack is especially

MetalLlama
Sep 15, 2009 at 11:33PM UTC , MetalLlama wrote:

I’mma let you finish but fsjal is the best meme of all time. OF ALL TIME!

Benjamin S S
Sep 16, 2009 at 12:17AM UTC , Benjamin S S wrote:

Jesus Christ

This is the fastest spreading of a meme ive seen in a while.

Within less then 48 hours, they have atleast 70 shoops, probably 20 remixes, and they have one from the hitler movie.

Andrew Baron
Sep 16, 2009 at 01:59AM UTC , Andrew Baron wrote:

Even noobs can create their own Kanye meme with this related Aiary template:
http://aviary.com/launch/phoenix?fguid=212a34de-f390-102c-80b9-0030488e168c

Jamie Dubs
Sep 16, 2009 at 02:22AM UTC , Jamie Dubs wrote:

Does anyone have screengrabs of the original Kanye Blog apology? the one in allcaps? he later replaced it with a smaller one I caught w/ http://twitter.com/kanyerants

Chris Menning
Sep 16, 2009 at 02:56AM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Oh, I came across one a bit ago. Let me find that again.

Chris Menning
Sep 16, 2009 at 03:10AM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Got it. Uploaded, and inserted into the entry.

JSin1276
Sep 16, 2009 at 03:17AM UTC , JSin1276 wrote:

That was quick and really glad as this is one of the best and easy memes of all time.

Benjamin S S
Sep 16, 2009 at 03:27AM UTC , Benjamin S S wrote:

Uploaded a new picture….

Because it had to be done

destructorv2
Sep 16, 2009 at 03:34AM UTC , destructorv2 wrote:

got a shock when i started to see this meme begin spawning all over.

pjkix
Sep 16, 2009 at 04:20AM UTC , pjkix wrote:

can we kill this meme already he’s not worth i ….. i’mma let you finish but ALL YOUR BASE was the best meme of all time!

MissMudkip
Sep 16, 2009 at 02:57PM UTC , MissMudkip wrote:

This ‘meme’ is called Interupting Kanye

Jamie Dubs
Sep 16, 2009 at 03:54PM UTC , Jamie Dubs wrote:

Does anyone have good blanks (exploitables) for any of the graphics used, like the 4pane?

Chris Menning
Sep 16, 2009 at 04:51PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Got it.
Pasted into the article.

Mike Amato
Sep 16, 2009 at 05:45PM UTC , Mike Amato wrote:

i made a crappy base pic of kanye at school. i will post it here so you can make it look better if you want.

franco alencastro
Sep 16, 2009 at 06:43PM UTC , franco alencastro wrote:

Captain Blubber
Sep 16, 2009 at 08:08PM UTC , Captain Blubber wrote:

Channel Frederator is all up ons this.

sobaz92
Sep 16, 2009 at 10:49PM UTC , sobaz92 wrote:

I’m pretty sure this meme is gonna die soon.

Chris Menning
Sep 17, 2009 at 12:16AM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Twitter status report:
Kanye’s still the #3 trending topic. There’s a botnet of fake accounts with icons that look like this:
spamming away.
Then there are users who seem to have just found out about it. Many are still creating new instances of memebrids that are already old, such as “I’ma let you finish” mashed up with “Yo Dawg”, “Patrick Swayze’s death” and “Chuck Norris.” A few AYB’s too. It’s funny how the people that are doing that typically aren’t even RTing it, so it seems that they may just be doing this out of their own original thoughts, in which case we are seeing a predicatable thought-pattern.

Chris Menning
Sep 17, 2009 at 12:21AM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Okay, the clear winner here was the Patrick Swayze mashup. People are still going crazy with that one.
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=kanye+patrick

pat1202003
Sep 17, 2009 at 01:18AM UTC , pat1202003 wrote:

I like this meme. This the first time I’ve got to participate in a meme. Usually by the time I know about them, they are long forgotten…

imaspy
Sep 17, 2009 at 02:05AM UTC , imaspy wrote:

first time i ever got in on the meme thing. here’s mine. maybe it’ll end up on this page some day :P

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j275/bigpapadrew/serena.png

Alkmaeon
Sep 17, 2009 at 02:20AM UTC , Alkmaeon wrote:

Ha this one I like

Chris Menning
Sep 17, 2009 at 02:29AM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Hey @imaspy, you can upload your pic right to the page. try it out.

imaspy
Sep 17, 2009 at 03:20AM UTC , imaspy wrote:

ah great! done and done. cheers guys!

Frostbyte
Sep 17, 2009 at 04:41AM UTC , Frostbyte wrote:

This meme is call Kanyeruption, BTW

wondermarq
Sep 17, 2009 at 05:27AM UTC , wondermarq wrote:

hey dude, love this pic. i’m making a kanye vs taylor song, and wa wondering if i can include this in the video. let me know! thanks!

wondermarq
Sep 17, 2009 at 05:32AM UTC , wondermarq wrote:

hey, i’m doing a kanye taylor video, and was wondering if i can use youre photo. i’ll give you credit. thanks

wondermarq
Sep 17, 2009 at 05:33AM UTC , wondermarq wrote:

hey dude, i’m making a video for a kanye/taylor song i wrote. would i be able to use your photo? i’ll def give u credit. thanks!

wondermarq
Sep 17, 2009 at 05:35AM UTC , wondermarq wrote:

hey, i was wondering if i could use this pic for a video im making. let me know. thanks

Chris Menning
Sep 17, 2009 at 12:19PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Hey Frostbyte. You know how many search results I get for “Imma let you finish?” 18,000. You know how many I get for “kanyeruption?” 80. Not 80,000. Just 80. So a small population on IGN mostly is calling this Kanyeruption, but that doesn’t mean that’s what this meme is called. It’s only called that by some.

Wondermag,
I don’t know what pic you’re even talking about but go ahead.

Chris Menning
Sep 17, 2009 at 12:27PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Holy hell.
When I went to sleep last night, Kanye was down to the #6 Twitter Trending topic, and this morning it’s back up to #4, primarily because of people telling Patrick Swayze and Michael Jackson funeral jokes.

Chris Menning
Sep 17, 2009 at 12:29PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

Now I know why. Ashton Kutcher just tweeted it 6 hours ago.
http://twitter.com/aplusk/status/4048749026

Leo
Sep 17, 2009 at 02:14PM UTC , Leo wrote:

kanyelicio.us/http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/kanye-interrupts-imma-let-you-finish

Just add “kanyelicio.us/” (without the quotation marks) before any website, and voila!

knightmare5001
Sep 18, 2009 at 12:12AM UTC , knightmare5001 wrote:

ROFL!!!

Blah-tan
Sep 18, 2009 at 12:25AM UTC , Blah-tan wrote:

Beyonce lets Taylor Swift finish her speech:

Sorry this is the best quality i could find.

New Noise
Sep 18, 2009 at 02:03AM UTC , New Noise wrote:

With this event, Kanye has earned his spot in the Joe Cartoon Blender.

omnomnomandrew
Sep 18, 2009 at 04:37AM UTC , omnomnomandrew wrote:

i was thinking kanye would just stand there….

knightsintodreams
Sep 18, 2009 at 09:43AM UTC , knightsintodreams wrote:

heehee meme cherry bursting here~ X3

but the article is full of inspiration~

]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e8/picklemepretty/kanye460x276sad.jpg

link if it doesn’t show up~ sorry, i’m sort of incompetent regarding the internet..

kwested
Sep 18, 2009 at 12:38PM UTC , kwested wrote:

found some more at http://kanyewested.com

LOL

drnic010
Sep 18, 2009 at 03:50PM UTC , drnic010 wrote:

This is an absolute memetic goldmine! Loving it :D

perez
Sep 18, 2009 at 10:26PM UTC , perez wrote:

here´s the Obama “jackass” video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqtTESz24gU

perez
Sep 18, 2009 at 10:27PM UTC , perez wrote:

I just have to mention one of the comments: “Barack, I’m real happy for you. I’m gonna let you finish…But Nelson Mandela was the greatest black President of all-time!! (from Kanye)”

Vapor54
Sep 20, 2009 at 12:38AM UTC , Vapor54 wrote:

Yea yea yea MTV had it originated…but this really originated from teh vesti on ign, the thread is so pimp

jumpropeman
Sep 20, 2009 at 11:17AM UTC , jumpropeman wrote:

It seems even Weebl is getting caught up in the Kanye fad

interrupting kanye
Sep 20, 2009 at 03:25PM UTC , interrupting kanye wrote:

imma let u finish but, this meme is the best meme of ALL TIME

Scrapps
Sep 21, 2009 at 02:20AM UTC , Scrapps wrote:

i was kanyed on my clubs forums, im the laharl emachi in one of the photos

cooltoonist
Sep 22, 2009 at 06:39AM UTC , cooltoonist wrote:

BEST POP CULTURE MEME OF THE YEAR.

Jamie Dubs
Sep 22, 2009 at 08:10AM UTC , Jamie Dubs wrote:

Candlejack, Imma let you fin-

anon234243
Sep 22, 2009 at 12:49PM UTC , anon234243 wrote:

yay, Jamie learned how to do a proper candlejack, imma real happy for

anon234243
Sep 22, 2009 at 12:52PM UTC , anon234243 wrote:

yay, Jamie learned how to do a proper candlejack, i’m really happy for

bghcomedy
Sep 23, 2009 at 12:47AM UTC , bghcomedy wrote:

YO, SWINE FLU, I’M REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU, AND IMMA LET YOU FINISH, BUT KANYE’S DISEASE WAS ONE OF THE BEST DISEASES OF ALL TIME!

“Kanye’s Disease: The Wigger Flu”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eijeGlTuEx8

Get the facts. Protect yourself. This is serious. Check out the video and learn how to NOT become a total jackass.

s0apscum
Sep 23, 2009 at 03:55PM UTC , s0apscum wrote:

@Chris – YTMND speaks.
http://mlkanye.ytmnd.com/

:]

thesorehead
Sep 24, 2009 at 04:53AM UTC , thesorehead wrote:

Funny stuff. Judging by the photos already up, this is going to be huge.

Elprede
Sep 24, 2009 at 05:09PM UTC , Elprede wrote:

lulz

Mich Zimmerman
Sep 24, 2009 at 05:25PM UTC , Mich Zimmerman wrote:

In the 8 days since Chris Menning posted that there were no Kanye YTMNDs to today, over 200 have shown up in the search, which does not include any that have been posted in the last 4 days, but have not shown up in the search yet, including my first YTMND site, http://kanyeinterruptsl.ytmnd.com

I think the spreading of memes all over has lead to everyone jumping on this while it’s still fresh. I also agree, however, that it’s so big that it will deflate just like the Christian Bale meme.

prokadae
Sep 24, 2009 at 09:19PM UTC , prokadae wrote:

crap, i spent so much time scrolling down, loging in to post a comment, then scrolling down again i almost forgot what i was going to comment about. has anyone else noticed that for some reason the first 2 times you press the comment button the page automaticly scrolls up to the middle?

anyway, there’s a game of this, too, on www.notdoppler.com.

Last HCompany
Sep 28, 2009 at 11:12AM UTC , Last HCompany wrote:

Runescape version

With love, Wgdvids, A.K.A. Excl.

Last HCompany
Sep 28, 2009 at 11:32AM UTC , Last HCompany wrote:

If anyone says that “Runescape is (Insert bad phrase here)”, Please Shut your F***ing caffinated mouth and keep it to yourself. Otherwise, I will spam your ass and block your stupid ass say as ‘Spam’ (oh, the irony).

SolidSNK
Sep 28, 2009 at 01:17PM UTC , SolidSNK wrote:

Guys someone photoshop smth like that:

Kanye is talking to jay leno , but kanye interrupts kanye telling him’ that another guy had the best apology of all time, OF ALL TIME :P

Stoner Chick
Sep 28, 2009 at 02:05PM UTC , Stoner Chick wrote:

F T C W bitch

bunnywuffles
Sep 30, 2009 at 03:07PM UTC , bunnywuffles wrote:

Add-your-own-website version:

http://kanyelicious.appspot.com/http://knowyourmeme.com

kanyeweezy
Oct 02, 2009 at 02:07AM UTC , kanyeweezy wrote:

Yo crowdspring & 99designs imma let you finish your celebration, but denook has the best design contest of all time!

Andrew Baron
Oct 03, 2009 at 03:27AM UTC , Andrew Baron wrote:

Here’s an update from the LA Times on October 2, 2009:

“Less than 24 hours after the sudden but not entirely unexpected cancellation of her co-headlining trek with Kanye West, pop-star-meets-fashion-oddity Lady Gaga has stated that she will stage a solo tour this winter. The singer unveiled on her Twitter account that an announcement will be coming next week.
“Still leaving on solo TOUR this nov.,” the artist wrote, making creative use of her caps lock key.
Lady Gaga also appeared at an industry conference held by trade Billboard Magazine today in New York, and briefly addressed the tour. “It was a mutual decision,” Gaga was quoted as saying. “Kanye’s going to take some time off. But the good news is that I’m going on tour in a few weeks.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/10/lady-gaga-solo-tour.html

SharkFinn
Oct 03, 2009 at 04:26PM UTC , SharkFinn wrote:

Kanye West apology generator:
http://www.atom.com/spotlights/kanye_west_apology/

greeger
Oct 06, 2009 at 05:40PM UTC , greeger wrote:

WOW DATS A BIG PAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Radien
Oct 08, 2009 at 04:46AM UTC , Radien wrote:

It may have a short shelf life, but some of these were pretty dang funny.

Oh, I heard a related anecdote:

Kanye West song starts playing on the radio. After a verse or so, the DJ stops the song and starts talking. “Yo, Kanye, I’m happy for you, and I’ma let you finish, but…”

Dead silence. Song doesn’t start again.

Chris Burket
Oct 29, 2009 at 06:23PM UTC , Chris Burket wrote:

Kanye: FFVII im very happy for you and ima gonna let you finish but legend of dragoon was one of the greatest RPGs of all time. of all time!!!

MMAmakesTheWorldGoRound
Nov 12, 2009 at 10:16AM UTC , MMAmakesTheWorldGoRound wrote:

Kanye interrupts Dana White courtesy of GroundFighter2000 of MMA.TV

Patrick
Nov 20, 2009 at 10:37AM UTC , Patrick wrote:

http://imaletyoufinish.com/ Not sure if this site is linked but it’s amazing.

Spidey Zottis
Nov 22, 2009 at 11:18PM UTC , Spidey Zottis wrote:

Omg! How many pictures! D:

CookiesAreTasty
Dec 20, 2009 at 11:08PM UTC , CookiesAreTasty wrote:

yes,
Just yes

HackerOnHacker
Jan 05, 2010 at 12:29AM UTC , HackerOnHacker wrote:

I found this Kanye Interrupts generator. :D
http://maurtopia.com/doombucket/generators/kanye.html

armastevs
Jan 25, 2010 at 05:26PM UTC , armastevs wrote:

Kanye had the greatest meme of all time! (This site should be added to the article
also there was a flash game dedicated to this event at Kanye Game

Login or Sign Up to participate!