The strange reason why Kanye West delayed ‘Anchorman 2’
One of the most famous scenes from Anchorman is when Will Ferrell’s news team becomes embroiled in a brutally violent brawl with their rivals—“Boy, that escalated quickly.” So, when it came to making the movie’s sequel, the filmmakers decided to recreate this scene, except, this time, they made it even bigger and more absurd. The new scene represented an opportunity for lots of familiar faces to appear on screen for a cameo, with Kanye West arguably representing the most surprising appearance. But, predictably enough, his presence on set was actually quite disruptive.
In 2017, the film’s producer, Judd Apatow, appeared at a charity event in LA, where he spoke about the issue with Kanye’s involvement in the scene. Apparently Ye had an issue with the wardrobe, believing that the jacket the filmmakers had selected for him was too obvious a choice. And, not being one to keep his feelings inside, he supposedly lost his temper about it.
“He shows up to shoot, and he’s supposed to wear a red Michael Jackson jacket,” Apatow explained of Ye’s participation. “The problem is this red jacket is like a first-instinct idea. Like the first thing you thought of, then you went on Google Images, and the first thing that came up, that’s why you went with it!”
Kanye’s solution, ironically, was to visit Google Images himself, seeking inspiration for a different look. “I’m going to look at 1,000 images!” he apparently told Apatow. Bear in mind, Kanye’s role in the film was, to put it generously, minimal, with Ye appearing on screen only briefly and, crucially, for the sake of a little joke. But Ye doesn’t do things by half measures.
He retired to his trailer, and, after two hours, he emerged again—wearing the exact same jacket as had initially been selected for him. After all of his research, he’d decided that, actually, the red jacket was the way to go. “I guess this is fine,” he apparently remarked to Apatow. All the while, Ye’s then-partner, Kim Kardashian, sat around in the trailer, not for a single moment looking up from her phone.
It sounds like the Wests’ presence on the Anchorman 2 set wasn’t especially positive for anyone involved, which wasn’t helped by one of Kanye’s habits. Apatow also mentioned how Ye continuously played music from his not-yet-released album Yeezus, which Will Ferrell has independently confirmed. Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2013, Ferrell said, “It was very surreal to have Kanye—who’s such a big fan of comedy—in our movie hanging out for two days. He was playing the new tracks a lot—over and over. Even when you’re trying to film, he’s playing the tracks.”
For understandable reasons, this got quite annoying, and, if Ferrell is to be believed, Ye wouldn’t actually leave the set after he’d finished up his work. “We got a scared 18-year-old intern to ask him to turn them down,” Ferrell went on, presumably joking about that part. “He hung out, even after we said, ‘You’re done’. He was like, ‘no, no’ and stayed in the background, hanging out and fighting with people.”