Yeezy Teased an East Williamsburg “Famous” Screening Last Night

Shortly after 10pm during last night’s rain, the Twitter account of rapper and very famous weirdo Kanye West, which has more than 23 million followers, invited the New York City public out to six different intersections around town for viewings of West’s most recent music video, which features the song “Famous” and footage of naked dolls of lots of celebrities.

You read that last one right. Footage from “Famous” viewing parties in LA suggest that the events there had been everything that was promised:

—but last night’s announced viewings didn’t pan out in quite the same way.

Within half an hour, West’s tweet identifying the East Williamsburg and Williamsburg cross streets for the viewings had been liked more than 2,000 times—and by 11pm, tiny, intrepid, devoted crowds had gathered at each location, huddled under umbrellas sharing speculations about what the night might have in store.

“I’d wait all night,” one fan told Bushwick Daily at Ingraham and Bogart, where the attended crowd collectively agreed to wait until midnight to see if Kanye or his work would materialize and almost everyone had already been in bed for the evening when heard the news and pulled on clothes to come out and try their luck. Fewer people had seen the announcement come up in their twitter feed than had had it sent to them by friends, and the crowd was on high alert for anything out of the ordinary, paying close attention to every honk and every passing vehicle that could be described as ordinary. One car full of would-be attendees had driven to the intersection from Long Island for the occasion, fueled by the prospect of sharing an intimate screening with the superstar.

In Williamsburg, fans who live down the street had arrived minutes after the tweet went live, and one couple arrived by cab from Maspeth. Fans guessed that if he was planning on making an appearance at any of the spots, it would be at the one closest to his SoHo residence. West’s recent announcement that he would spontaneously perform at Webster Hall recently drew a massive crowd there, as well; last night’s significantly smaller crowds were similarly unlucky. Neither ‘Ye nor his video materialized.

Elsewhere around the city, other crowds were disappointed as well.

We’re guessing it still made for a memorable night—and perhaps the letdown will result in a few more people shelling out for Tidal.

COVER: Kanye West performing in May 2011. Photo by Jason Persse via Wikimedia Commons.