Kanye's Twitter Feed Draws Unwanted Attention to Fan

Since joining Twitter last week, Kanye West has already racked up almost half a million followers and had some of his Tweets mashed up with "New Yorker" cartoons, often to hilarious effect. Given how other celebrities, musicians and power players use the microblogging service to share information and keep up with each other, it stood to reason that West would do the same.

But in keeping with his unpredictable nature, the rapper/producer decided to follow only one person, a 19-year-old Englishman named Steve Holmes, seemingly picked at random.

"I just commented on something on Kanye West's account and next thing I know he's following me," he told the Coventry Telegraph.

A lot of people would have been thrilled to be followed by one of the biggest celebrities on the planet, but it's turned into something of a nightmare for Holmes.

"I was like, 'Oh my God!,' but about 20 seconds later I had 20 messages from people I didn't even know and my phone wouldn't stop bleeping."

He deleted the Twitter application from his iPhone, in light of of both the volume of new followers - he went from 60 to over 6,000 - and the odd requests he received.

"A guy wanted me to look at his film trailer and people have been sending me links to their music demos - as if I have some sort of influence over Kanye West," he said.

In a world where everyone seems to want a moment in the spotlight, Holmes seems content to stand quietly in the shadows.

"I think there's an obsession with celebrity culture," he said. "The thing is I don't buy into that, but judging from the comments and messages I've had over the last couple of days, a lot of people do."

In fact, Holmes denied interview requests from the BBC, CNN and New York Magazine before deciding to speak to his local paper about the story.

"Before this weekend I thought it would be cool to have a celebrity following me on Twitter but now I think it's really not worth it," he said.

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