Entertainment

Kim Opens Up About that 'Bound 3' Parody

by Alanna Bennett

The Internet went all "!!!" yesterday when James Franco and Seth Rogen released "Bound 3," their parody to Kanye West's new Kim Kardashian-featuring video, "Bound 2." We wondered in our write-up of that video whether or not Kanye West would approve of such a parodying of his artistic endeavors — now it seems we've got half an answer, because at least Kim Kardashian approves of Franco and Rogen's parody.

"You nailed it!!! Sooo funny!" she responded to Franco and Rogen via Twitter late Monday, which is a far cry from the infamous #NORESPECTTOBENAFFLECK all-caps-locked anger that was directed at Jimmy Kimmel when the last big Kanye West parody hit the web. She echoed her positive feelings when TMZ cameras caught up with her — "Loved it! So funny." — she told a bunch of paparazzi who were waiting outside West's Manhattan apartment for a quote (celebrities' lives are weird).

So what makes this particular parody stand above the Kimmel kid-as-Kanye one that caused such a mess? Well, it's certainly not that everybody liked it, if this Vulture article is any indication.

In my hypothesis (and keep in mind that we still haven't heard from West himself on this matter), it probably has a lot to do with the perceived tone of the whole thing. Because, yes, Rogen and Franco's parody is still that, a parody, and therefore at least something of a mockery.

But this is a music video; Kimmel's Kid Kanye sketch was directly mocking West's ideology and his long-thought-out opinions (or at the very least the way he delivers them). It got to the point where West had to go onto Kimmel's show not just to "clear the air" but to actually speak his opinions again —which were actually pretty valid — with the hope that maybe this time the public would look past a pompous exterior and realize he was actually saying something valuable. (Side note: People still categorized that one as a "rant," which seems unfair.)

In comparison, Rogen and Franco's video is just riding on Kardashian and West's notoriety and their bizarre (but epic!) art direction — and it banks on the fact that, yes, the public will (still) pay attention when two dudes make out for comedy.