Music Times has already reported about how some UK media outlets went over the top in their reporting on Kanye West's headlining set at Glastonbury over the weekend, but we promise that this news bit is 100 percent worth it: The captions supplied by the BBC for the televised version of his performance have justifiably "gone viral."
The network was in a tricky situation for the sets the it opted to carry, as musicians—even those whose work is less-than-parental advisory—tend to be a tad profane onstage. Rather than attempt to censor West's set (which would have been a daunting task), the network instead supplied a warning for viewers to "expect bad language." But what about the captions for the hearing-impaired? The translators at the BBC must have been told to censor the more questionable language...but apparently weren't given a well thought-out list of proper substitutes...much to the humor of British viewers.
Needless to say, the word that caused the most censor consternation was "n*gga," which West uses profusely, especially in his new single "All Day." Among the gems featured in that performance was "liggas (sic) still getting popped on the day to day." Granted, there's no right answer for what you replace "n*gga" with, but what on Earth is a "ligga"? Of course, that's better than the slip-up during his "I Don't Like" verse where censors typed out "ligger" instead of the more innocuous "ligga."
The f-word was still more humorous however. Perhaps the best instance was during "Power" when translators typed "we ain't got nothing to lose, motherducker we rollin.'"
Sometimes they just gave up...leading to instances where there captions simply read "<HE RAPS>."
It's hard out here for a censor.
