Kanye West and Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Celebrities’ actions are constantly being monitored and judged by the media and their fans. They are bound to eventually make mistakes and do things they regret. The public relations issues that are caused have increased over the years because the new forms of media make it easier to spread news stories of the mistake the celebrity made. This is why there are numerous celebrity apologies coming out daily. In this essay, I will look at Kanye West’s public apology interview on The Jay Leno Show and show how he uses Aristotle’s artistic proofs to help persuade his audience. Throughout his speech, West uses each of the proofs ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade his audience that he is genuinely sorry and …show more content…
Kanye West is a well-known celebrity, “Grammy-winning rapper,” and a producer. West began his rap career in 2004 when he released The College dropout. He has also produced for many stars including Jay-Z, Ludacris, and Beyoncé (“Kanye West”). The incident Kanye West is apologizing for in his appearance on The Jay Leno Show happened at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on September 13 2009. Taylor Swift, country singer, had just been named as the winner of Best Female Video for her video “You Belong With Me” when West went on stage and took the microphone out of Swift’s hand. He went on to voice his objections of Swift winning the award over Beyoncé’s video for “Single Ladies.” He then returned the microphone to Swift and left the stage. Taylor Swift was later quoted saying how hurt she was by his actions (“Top 10”). Kanye West was already set to be a musical guest on Jay Leno’s premiere episode the day following the incident. West wanted to take the opportunity to publicly apologize to Taylor Swift and to his fans. Kanye did post an apology on his personal blog, but later took the apology off …show more content…
First, one must think about how the audience is feeling about the situation prior to the interview. Most of the audience is appalled and angry about what West did at the Video Music Awards. West shows regret or disappointment in himself in a few different ways. One of the ways he shows regret is by saying he regrets what he did. He says, “ . . . I immediately knew in this situation that it was wrong” and tries to show the audience that he did not mean to intentionally hurt Taylor Swifts feelings (Graham). Another way Kanye West shows his regret and disappointment is through some of the nonverbal actions he did during the interview. West looked down and avoided eye contact with not only Jay Leno, but the cameras too. When Leno addresses West, he looks at him, but when it is his time to speak he begins to look down and it seems as if he is trying not to make eye contact. This can also be seen as guilt because eyes can reveal someone’s true feelings, but he does it in a way that he is not hiding something but actually remorseful for what he did. He also touches his face and head a lot when Leno asks him how his mom would feel about what he did. It was almost as if he was going to cry, but then decides to hold the tears back. Showing the audience he has these strong emotions can help them feel pity for him and in turn possibly lead to them forgiving him. This can also come across as