Kanye West ‘Cruel Winter’ trailer was a fake

Maybe we only wanted George Bush to narrate a Kanye West concept album.

The trailer to “Cruel Winter” that was widely distributed last week — purportedly for a short film by Austin Christianson via West — was merely a concept pitch from Christianson. The director told Fuse of the vague plan.

“Without getting into many details, I will say that the trailer was independently made and the video is essentially a concept trailer,” he said. “It’s used for pitching an idea and/or concept to a client. With that said, the video was being used for pitching purposes and it’s naturally intended only for the client to see.”

The sample used in the trailer is from George W. Bush’s “Address to the Nation Announcing Allied Military Action in the Persian Gulf,” which has an easy-going apocalyptic feel.

And so how does something like that end up into mainstream circulation via YouTube, huh? Just sounds like Christianson had good intentions as a professional, and even used the copyright attribution to DONDA (West’s creative/film component to his empire) and maybe is a little embarrassed especially after Def Jam claimed no ownership and the clip was pulled down.

The existence of a “Cruel Winter” album is still in question. Something called “Cruel Winter” — perhaps a companion to “Cruel Summer” — is in the works. Waiting, however, is still cruel. Is West soliciting pitches for such a thing? Because I hear that George Lucas is interested in making little films now.

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