A Little Bit Of Fame Can Be Way Too Much

Steve Holmes, England, kinda likes rap artist Kanye West.

When Kanye joined Twitter, Holmes was among the 461,000-odd people who began following him.

Kanye randomly chose just one person to follow on Twitter -- Steve Holmes.

Pretty cool, huh? I mean, how many everyday, average Joes end up with a celebrity following them on Twitter?

Holmes geeked out.

And then the nightmare began.

Holmes’ number of Twitter followers spiked to over 6,000. News media inundated Holmes, asking for interviews. Wannabe artists flooded Holmes’ email inbox with questions for Kanye West, even sending music samples for critique and/or sponsorship. One person sent Holmes a music video.

Holmes is overwhelmed and regretting that he even heard of Kanye West. As he said himself, he doesn’t even like the guy all that much.

Who would, especially after Kanye’s antics at the VMA’s, when he deliberately stole Taylor Swift’s thunder? (Just Google “Kanye West Taylor Swift” for the full story.)

Okay, so what are these people thinking? Put yourself in the shoes of a TV or newspaper or magazine interviewer. There’s only so much juice you can squeeze out of this story. Ordinary guy being followed on Twitter by Kanye West. That’s it. Big deal.

And who in their right mind thinks ordinary, average guy Steve Holmes is going to have any influence over Kanye West? “Here, check out this music from somebody I don’t know and let him know, through me, what you think.”

Yeah. I don’t think Kanye would bother.

This kind of mentality is actually a little screwed up. One ordinary guy gets a tenuous connection to a celebrity (and not exactly a role model celebrity at that), and suddenly ordinary guy becomes flooded with attention.

He doesn’t KNOW Kanye West. Hasn’t worked with him, spoken with him to any extent, didn’t even grow up in the same country as Kanye West. Yet everyone wants their piece of Steve Holmes’ nebulous pie.

Don’t people have anything better to do?

Apparently not.

Holmes has since turned off the Twitter app on his phone, seeking peace from the brouhaha. “I really have no desire for this attention . . . Surprisingly not everyone wants to be famous,” he tweeted.

Fame is a disease, apparently.

My question is: If you really don’t want this attention, why don’t you just cut all ties with Kanye West? Get rid of the source of the problem, and the problem disappears.

Maybe having a rapper follow you on Twitter is worth the annoyance after all?