My absurd experiences in North America over the years

Five days after the awards ceremony, Kanye sat on the floor of his private residence, leaning against the edge of the bed.

He no longer had the strength to curse "FUCKFUCKFUCK," and now all that remained was helplessness and despair.

His phone had long since run out of battery, but he didn't look for a charger. The screen was completely black, lying quietly on the carpet two meters away from him, like an old object that had lost its function.

He couldn't remember when he last ate, nor could he remember how many hours ago he last fell asleep.

He only remembered that he had drawn the curtains tightly shut, and the room was pitch black except for a thin sliver of light coming through the crack under the door, like a fissure seeping in from the outside. He was sitting on the edge of that fissure, with neither the strength to get up to look at it nor the courage to completely block it up.

The scene from the awards ceremony kept replaying in his mind: rushing onto the stage, grabbing the microphone, and saying those flattering things to Beyoncé.

Each time the video was replayed, his expression became even more stiff.

I thought that my bold actions were a way to prove myself to Beyoncé, a ticket to truly enter that circle.

But now, sitting on the dark floor, he finally began to see the true shape of the ticket.

It was just a one-way pass to a locked room. He rushed in, the door closed behind him, and the people who had been standing outside backed away.

He once thought that his efforts to stand by Beyoncé and Jay-Z were a form of protection, and that he was proving his loyalty by humiliating white girls from the red southern states.

As long as he praises Beyoncé's talent in the media and expresses his respect for Jay-Z in private, he can enter that inner circle.

However, the 19-year-old girl was not without powerful backers; in fact, her backers were so powerful that they could easily crush him.

He shouldn't have gone to that party the night before the awards ceremony. If he hadn't overheard that vague hint at the end of the corridor, he wouldn't have rushed onto the stage like a madman. To give himself enough courage, he even drank alcohol beforehand...

Now everything is ruined. He has been sentenced to death in the public eye, and his business partners are terminating their contracts one after another.

He was like a chess piece that could be replaced at any time; chess pieces are never protected and are only put back in the box when they are no longer needed.

That's what those big shots do.

Kanye felt increasingly devastated as he thought about it, and his emotions gradually spiraled out of control. He didn't even realize when tears started flowing.

By the time he felt a coolness on his cheek, he had been crying for a long time, so long that his throat tightened and he had to cover his mouth with one hand to try to suppress the sounds surging up from the depths of his chest.

He didn't want to make a sound, because making a sound would mean admitting that he had been completely crushed.

But his shoulders were trembling silently, his fingers gripping the edge of the carpet, his nails scraping the fibers with a slight grating sound.

She cried like a child trapped in a dark room, not knowing where the exit was or whether anyone would open the door from the outside.

"It's all over...it's all over..."

He pounded the floor with all his might until his hands were too sore to lift.

……

Despair and darkness enveloped the entire room, making it airtight. Kanye buried his face in his knees and curled up, as if trying to fold himself into a smaller, less tangible shape.

At that moment, he truly wished he had never stepped onto that stage, never held that microphone, never said those words, but simply sat in the audience watching Taylor receive the award, clapping enthusiastically, and then went home.

But that option no longer exists and will never appear again.

He may never have the chance to attend the MTV Awards again. His name is already etched into a picture from which he can no longer retreat, while everyone outside the picture is rapidly moving away from him.

Including Beyoncé and her husband.

At the same time, Beyoncé sat in the study of her Beverly Hills mansion, with a report spread out in front of her that she had read countless times.

She was wearing loose loungewear, her hair was unkempt, and she had no makeup on.

She had no assistants or public relations team members with her; only her husband, Jay-Z, sat on the sofa opposite her, silently watching her.

The data in that report, along with his own name, is increasingly appearing alongside words like industry structure, abuse of power, and tacit approval. A massive media storm is looming over him like a mountain pressing down.

She felt like something was stuck in her throat, making it hard for her to breathe.

Beyoncé has been an artist for many years and has experienced countless public relations crises, but none like this one. The center of the crisis is clearly not her, but the shadow of it looms over her as if it were a tangible reality.

She didn't seem to have many options.

"If we do nothing," she said helplessly, looking at her husband, "public opinion will completely destroy our reputation."

Jay-Z didn't answer immediately, because he already knew the answer. He remained silent for a long time, so long that the room light cast a still shadow on the side of his face. "What can we do?"

The enemy has seized the moral high ground and possesses a perfect media matrix, leaving them with nowhere to exert their influence.

Of course, they can't do nothing. If they do nothing, the label of "entertainment hegemony" will accompany their careers and become an indelible stain when others mention them.

More importantly, it won't be long before the brand begins to reassess the couple's commercial value.

By the end of the year or next year, younger and safer candidates will likely fill their positions. At that point, what's the point of talking about entertainment discourse power?

However, even if you are going to do something, you should at least wait until things have cooled down before responding.

Beyoncé lowered her head, her fingers gently pinching her palm, as if to confirm that she could still feel pain.

She remembered seeing Li Fu and Taylor's departing figures that night. She recognized Li Fu and immediately realized that the situation was not good, but she still did not expect him to be so serious about this matter.

He actually went to such lengths for Taylor!

I should have stopped them then; perhaps there would still have been a chance to salvage the situation.

"I should have stopped them from leaving," Beyoncé said, feeling extremely frustrated. "But how could I have known they would just walk out of the venue without looking back?"

"It's too late to say all this now," Jay-Z sighed. "I'll try to contact them privately again."

He still wanted to resolve the matter privately, since he and his wife weren't directly involved, and as for Kanye...

He ignored the other party's repeated requests for help. If he still has contact or meets with the other party at this critical moment, it would confirm that Kanye's actions were known or even tacitly approved beforehand.

They're already in big trouble themselves, so why would they care about the lives of others?