With the rise of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, it’s easier than ever to keep up with celebrity drama. Despite its strict character count, Twitter has become the leader in celebrity fights, giving stars a global stage to air out their dirty laundry. This is exactly what happened between B.o.B. and Neil deGrasse Tyson and again, later, with Kanye and Amber Rose.
In a completely unpredicted turn of events, rapper B.o.B. took to Twitter declaring his belief that the world is actually flat:
“A lot of people are turned off by the phrase “flat earth” … but there’s no way u can see all the evidence and not know… grow up.”
The tweet, of course, went viral, attracting the attention of celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson, who is known for picking apart movies for scientific accuracy, could not let this slide and tried to get B.o.B. to see reason. B.o.B. kept defending his flat Earth view, even going so far as to release a diss track against Tyson, who later enlisted the help of his nephew to release a B.o.B. diss track. Not the way anyone was expecting 2016 to start off.
Still, B.o.B. versus Tyson seems like a couple of kids making faces at each other compared to the way Amber Rose went in on Kanye West. ‘Ye initially started the fight by coming for Wiz Khalifa, insulting his music, style and appearance. Kanye was so heated he got all the way to “17th” on his tirade, before Rose, Khalifa’s ex-wife, finally stepped in with what’s probably going to be the clapback of the year.
Rose tweeted, “Awww @kanyewest are u mad I’m not around to play in ur a–hole anymore?”
The tweet was followed by the hashtag #FingersInTheBootyAssBitch, which went viral across social media (there’s even shirts available on Redbubble). Following Rose’s tweet, Kanye deleted all evidence of his fight with Khalifa, leaving a tweet that proclaimed “[I]t’s all about positive energy.”
While Twitter does offer a place for fans to get to know their favorite celebrities better, or too much in Kanye’s case, many stars don’t seem to take into consideration that those 140 character Tweets last forever. It might be positive energy for Kanye, but it’s a nightmare for his public relations team. Screenshots of the tweets are still floating around, and the hashtag won’t be dying down anytime soon. Maybe for now it would be best if celebrities put down their phones for a while to avoid some heat. On the other hand, if January already gave us a B.o.B. versus Tyson rap battle, I can’t wait to see what February brings.
