Fall from grace

Kanye West ought to watch himself following his self-administered fall from grace at the VMA awards this week, when he jumped on stage and told Taylor Swift that she didn’t deserve her best video award as he thought his mate’s missus, Beyonce, made an altogether superior example.
His outburst has fetched comments from everyone – well President Obama and Miley Cyrus to be precise, with the public (the ones who care, anyway) appalled by his arrogant, unprofessional and very rude behaviour.
Entertainment news is littered with various celebrities who go and do something the public disapprove of, sometimes criminal and downright evil, sometimes a minor irritant that gets up Joe Public’s nose but ends up creating a gargantuan wound that never fully recovers.
Kanye will probably be okay – based on the fact that he is male and those in the public eye, with one exception that I can think of, Gary Glitter, are usually forgiven. Women, on the other hand, are rarely let off, for even the mildest of misdemeanours.
Let’s take Heather Mills. She divorced a Beatle. Right – fair game then. We can make jokes about her disability, we can pillory her in the street, call her a money grubbing nutcase and give her, in her words, worse press than a paedophile or a murderer. Course we can – she had the audacity to say bad things about Paul McCartney. Anything goes.
And what about Joss Stone? A few years ago, she came out on the podium at The Brit Awards and addressed the crowd in a ridiculous American accent. That single transgression led to her very promising UK singing career disappearing down the pan.
Now let’s take the less fairer sex.
Pete Townshend was cautioned by police in 2003 after accessing a site alleged to have been advertising child porn. But never mind, eh – because he was in The Who, a really cool, iconic rock band - we’ll forget that.
Edward Kennedy left the scene of an accident, allegedly caused by his drunk driving, and failed to report it until hours later which led to the death of a young woman. But we’ll let him off. He’s a Kennedy – in America, practically royalty.
We’re a fickle lot, but ultimately responsible for the celebrities that are foisted upon us. We build them up and just as quickly and sometimes on a whim, we tear them down again. But if you are male, you stand a much better chance of staying on your feet.