Kanye West’s recently assembled think tank is still at least several months away from redesigning the weather, which unfortunately left his recent appearance at Australia’s Big Day Out festival vulnerable to conventional, factory-grade rain. More than just being aesthetically boring, the downpour delayed Kanye’s headlining set by more than 45 minutes, upsetting attendees who—anxious to see the lasers and ballerinas—broke into chants of “bullshit.” Of course, the Courier Mail offers a conflicting explanation, saying that the real reason Kanye didn't take the stage as scheduled was because he didn't want to "share the limelight" with a skateboarding demonstration from Tony Hawk. But whether or not that's true, he certainly showed no such concerns about competing with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, whose neighboring set was interrupted by Kanye’s soundcheck.
After fans began booing the intrusion, Cornell commented, “Sounds like there’s children playing music there. Retarded children.” And perhaps sensing that the blogs might pick up on this, maybe using a headline such as “Soundgarden wishes Kanye West would keep his ‘retarded’ music down,” Cornell rushed to explain that he meant “’Retarded’ as in held back. There’s no other word for it.” So in a way, Cornell wasn’t using a questionably tasteful insult so much as lamenting the interminable wait while Kanye’s DONDA finishes overhauling the English language. Hopefully Kanye will take to Twitter soon to offer some colorful suggestions in the interim. [via Spinner]