It’s been over twenty years, and we still haven’t stopped talking about it. You know the clip. Mike Myers stands there, blinking, looking like he’s trying to dissolve into the floorboards while Kanye West decides to set the script on fire. It was September 2, 2005. A benefit for Hurricane Katrina victims. Live TV.
If you grew up with a television, that "George Bush doesn't care about Black people" moment is burned into your brain. But honestly, most people get the dynamic totally wrong. They think Myers was offended or that there was some massive feud between the Austin Powers star and the rapper.
The truth is way weirder. And, in a lot of ways, much more human.
The Teleprompter Terror
The setup was simple. NBC’s "A Concert for Hurricane Relief" was supposed to be a somber, scripted affair. Celebrities read pre-written pleas for donations to help the people stranded in New Orleans. Myers and West were paired up to read a standard segment about the breach of the levees.
Before they went on, Kanye actually gave Myers a heads-up. He told him he was going to "take some liberties" with the script. Myers, a veteran of Saturday Night Live, probably figured that meant a little ad-libbing or some extra passion. He didn't expect a full-blown political indictment of the sitting President.
Kanye started by talking about the media. He pointed out the disparity in how victims were described.
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- Black families were "looting."
- White families were "looking for food."
Myers did his best to stay professional. He kept reading the teleprompter, speaking about the devastation in a calm, "celebrity voice." But as Kanye’s voice started to shake, you could see the panic in Mike’s eyes. It wasn't because he disagreed; it was because he realized the ship was steering directly into an iceberg on live television.
Why Mike Myers Didn't Actually Mind
For years, people used Mike Myers’ face as a meme for "secondhand embarrassment." He looked paralyzed. But if you look at his interviews years later—specifically a really candid one with GQ in 2014—he sang a very different tune.
Myers actually said he was "super proud" to be standing next to Kanye in that moment.
"For me it isn't about the look of embarrassment on my face, it is truly about the injustice that was happening in New Orleans... the emphasis of it being that I'm the guy next to the guy who spoke a truth."
Basically, Myers felt the same way. He admitted that while he assumed George Bush cared about people in a general sense, the slow federal response to Katrina felt racially biased to him too. He even said that if it were white people on roofs, the army would have been there in five seconds.
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So, that famous "frozen" look? That wasn't judgment. It was just a guy realizing he was witness to a historic, career-altering moment of "truth to power" and having no idea how to follow it up without sounding like a robot.
What happened when the cameras cut away?
The show didn't stop. The producers immediately cut to Chris Tucker, who looked just as shell-shocked. Backstage, the vibe was intense. But Kanye later revealed in the Spike Lee documentary When the Levees Broke that Mike Myers was actually pretty cool about it.
After they finished the segment, Myers reportedly told Kanye, "It is what it is." He didn't scream. He didn't call his agent. He even took Kanye out for drinks later that night. It’s a side of the story that doesn't fit the "awkward celebrity" narrative, so it rarely gets told.
The Aftermath and the SNL Reunion
NBC was, unsurprisingly, furious. They released a statement saying Kanye's opinions didn't represent the network. George Bush later called it one of the "most disgusting moments" of his presidency in his memoir Decision Points.
But Myers and Kanye? They leaned into it. Just a month later, Kanye was the musical guest on the season premiere of SNL. Mike Myers appeared in a sketch where they basically parodied the whole incident. It showed they were on good terms, or at least that Myers was savvy enough to turn a PR nightmare into comedy gold.
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Myers even put a subtle parody of the moment in his movie The Love Guru. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene where his character is on a live broadcast and a co-host goes on a rant, leaving Myers with that same wide-eyed, helpless expression.
Why the moment feels different now
Looking back at this through a 2026 lens is complicated. Kanye’s legacy has shifted dramatically since 2005. Back then, he was the "college dropout" hero speaking up for the disenfranchised. Today, his public image is much more fractured.
But if we’re talking specifically about the 2005 telethon, the consensus has shifted in his favor over time. Historians and critics generally agree that the federal response to Katrina was a disaster and that the media coverage did have a racial bias. Kanye might have been "unprofessional," but he wasn't wrong.
Actionable Takeaways from the 2005 Incident
It’s easy to dismiss this as just another celebrity blunder, but there are actual lessons here about communication and live media:
- The Power of the Pivot: If you're ever in a professional setting where things go wildly off-script, "be like Mike." He didn't try to shut Kanye down or argue. He stayed professional and finished his job, which prevented the situation from escalating into a physical or verbal altercation on air.
- Context Matters: What sounds like a "crazy" outburst in the moment often looks like "prescience" ten years later. Always wait for the dust to settle before forming a final opinion on a public controversy.
- Humor Defuses Tension: The fact that they did SNL together so quickly is the best way to handle a scandal. If you can laugh at yourself, you take the ammunition away from your critics.
If you want to understand the full weight of that night, go back and watch the footage of the actual New Orleans floods first, then watch the telethon clip. The context of the suffering makes Mike Myers’ awkwardness seem small and Kanye’s rage seem entirely logical.