Kanye West dares Famous celebs to sue him, then changes his mind

Warning: this story contains explicit language and images

Kanye West might profess to be millions of dollars in debt, but that's not stopping him from asking to be sued by the people in his new video for the song Famous.

No really, he's asking to be sued.

The message below was posted to the rapper's Twitter account and then hastily removed, but not before it was screen-grabbed and retweeted many times over.

It comes after West premiered the controversial music video for his song Famous, which is now streaming on Tidal.

The nine-minute video — vaguely resembling a short film — depicts a number of celebrities West has had good and bad relationships with, including his ex-girlfriend Amber Rose, Bill Cosby, George W. Bush and Taylor Swift.

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Swift and West's ongoing public beef began in 2009 when he crashed the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards during her acceptance speech and has continued until now over these lyrics from Famous.

"I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that b@$ch famous."

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Many of the 12 naked bodies, lying in a bed sleeping on rumpled white sheets together, are lookalikes, but appear remarkably like the famous people they portray. It becomes difficult to tell who's real and who's not, an ambiguity West was clearly hoping for.

Among them are Donald Trump, Rihanna, Vogue's Anna Wintour, Caitlyn Jenner and West's wife, Kim Kardashian West.

The Famous bed also includes West himself and Ray J, who was involved in the 2003 sex tape scandal with Kardashian that launched her fame.

Knowing the video would raise eyebrows, he did a special screening at The Forum in Los Angeles Friday for thousands of people.

The bulk of the video is grainy and dark, resembling something captured with a home video.

At the end, he lists the celebrities by name and gives them "special thanks" for "being famous."

So could West actually get sued for this?

"You could make the case," Larry Zerner, an entertainment lawyer, told the CBC in Los Angeles.

Zerner, who was speaking generally about the video, said the issue isn't about copyright or trademark — it's a civil matter called right of publicity, which varies from state to state in the U.S.

In California, the provision can protect against unauthorized use of a person's likeness for commercial or advertising purposes.

"This is where it gets a little tricky," said Zerner. "The question here for me is whether the video is considered an artistic work protected by the First Amendment or just a commercial for the album or the song."

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, West told the magazine the video, which was inspired by artist Vincent Desiderio's painting Sleep, is "a comment on fame."

It might also become a legal matter, if any of the celebs above decide to take West up on his Twitter invitation.