Leave it to Kanye West to take James Corden‘s Carpool Karaoke aboard a giant private plane. The 42-year-old just dropped his new gospel album Jesus Is King and apparently a car is just too confining to Yeezy. They taped the segment for the Oct. 26 The Late Late Show aboard a 737 jet instead of the usual SUV or car that singers join James in. The premise was James’ flight to LA had been cancelled so he called up Kanye and got a lift on his crowded flight. After he was seated, it turned out all of the passengers were members of a gospel choir who did a lot of inspirational singing to get things started.
Then the plane took off, making for the first ever Airpool Karaoke. Kanye explained that he got the idea for his Sunday Services three years ago when he was hospitalized. He said he wrote down, “Start a church in Calabasas” and that God has taken him to “new levels” where he’s never been before. Kanye said that he felt God needed him to suffer more and have people see his suffering, stigmas and “human experiences” so that “now when I talk about how Jesus saved me, more people can relate to that experience.” He said that going through his “mental breakdown” and “debt” that made things more compelling.
Kanye even made reference to the infamous 2009 VMAs when he stormed onstage and tried to give Taylor Swift‘s Moonman trophy to Beyonce. “A lot of people were praying for me. When I was all the way gone at the MTV awards holding a Hennessey bottle and running on stage. When I was doing creative direction for certain awards shows (the Pornhub Awards), there was people in my family praying for me but they couldn’t call me and scream at me, I’m a grown man…it was God who came and put this thing in my heart and said are you ready to be in service?” He added “I have no regret and no shame” about anything that got him to this point in his life. Then Kanye and his gospel choir did an updated version of “Jesus Walks” mixing in new lyrics here and there about how Christ has changed him before landing at LAX. Yep, that was the one and only song for his Airpool Karaoke.
The segment wasn’t without some controversy. When The Late Late Show tweeted about it as a teaser earlier in the day, they showed Kanye and James on the stairs of a 737 with the caption, “Prepare for takeoff. James and @kanyewest take Carpool Karaoke to a whole new level TONIGHT on CBS. That didn’t sit well with many people who thought it was harmful to the planet to fly a plane that large around just to tape a TV segment.
Prepare for takeoff.
James and @kanyewest take Carpool Karaoke to a whole new level TONIGHT on CBS 🛫 pic.twitter.com/H5DRBZKuH2
— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) October 28, 2019
Emily Linka tweeted, “The planet is dying, disabled people have literally be vilified for needing to use plastic straws but it’s totally fine for Kanye West and James Corden to fly a private jet just for a TV skit.” User Jack Anderson tweeted to James and Kanye, “And we talk about climate change and greenhouse effects etc. I wonder why…” while user Christina Mars wrote, “Climate protection says Hi!” A woman named Hailey wrote to the men and said “F**k the Earth though, right?” while a man named Seth tweeted to them, “Sweeeet, burn more CO2 pal.”