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Video: Kanye West Apologetic, Sad On Jay Leno Show

2009_09_kanyeleno.jpg Barely 24 hours after causing a stir for dissing Taylor Swift—while she was accepting an award—at the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West appeared on The Jay Leno Show. West was a musical guest, along with Jay-Z and Rihanna, but agreed to speak with Leno before the performance. The rapper seemed very contrite, saying he felt terrible for hurting someone, it's “extremely difficult to deal with the fact that I hurt someone and took something away from a talented artist."

West noted it was "someone’s emotions I stepped on — it was rude, period" and said he wanted to apologize to her in person. And when Leno asked what West's late mother would have thought about his behavior, Kanye seemed to be lost for words. Here's the full apology:

EW's Ken Tucker writes, "There was a long silence that became dramatic — you rarely hear such dead air on TV." West eventually said, "Anything I can do to help Taylor." Leno had also asked him when he knew his antics backfired—West replied, "As soon as I gave the mic back to her and she didn't keep going."

The rapper also said he hadn't really taken any time off but now he thinks he needs to reflect, "just analyze how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life, how I'm going to improve." And after that, he performed.

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Comments [rss]

  • chelcc

    wait a second, was it really necessary for leno to bring ask what kanye thinks his dead mother would think about this? two tacky's don't make a classy

  • Reflect

    This guy is a too much EGO. You cant rap about changing the dam world then go stomping on people because there not paying homage to you. He reminds me of the male TYRA, Sympathetic real woman beauty in my talk show by day, and fierce Diva Top Model critiquing your horrid bone structure at night. Can someone please smack them off there high horses.

  • nomnomnom

    What Kanye really needs to apologize for is that hair. WTF is he thinking?

  • efg72

    Who cares! MTV doesn't even play videos anymore! Who wants an award from a network that doesn't support the music community?



    Can we change the subject and talk about Whitney Houston now?

  • Manitoba2

    I can't believe anyone would even watch Jay Leno's show. It was terrible in its previous slot, and I'm sure it's even worse now.

  • blondeinthecity

    Obama called Kanye a jackass off the record. Some ABC news dude twittered (tweeted??) it

  • blueballs

    The only true winner in all of this: Universal & all the sub-companies under their wing

  • valeriob

    You mean Viacom?

  • Mookie Wilson

    Why does Kanye have that weird skin glow? He always looks like he was just dipped in butter.

  • hotstepper

    so yesterday.

  • The_Dude

    Surprised the media didn't run with this. Kanyeezy & a couple of other dbags, that fallout boy kid & joseph, taking a bottle of henny to the head before the vmas!!



    Blame it on the alcohol...



    http://www.byroncrawford.com/2009/09/kanye-and-joe-jackson-sharing-a-bottle-of-hennessy.html

  • ChampionOfTheSun

    Kanye West and Jay Leno together. We all lose.

  • Trilby16

    Kanye's behavior was ghetto through and through. Beyonce, on the other hand, showed a lot of class.

  • Soggy

    Joe Wilson is LOVING this. People are more upset about someone stealing some country singer's thunder at the VMAs than an elected official yelling at the president in a breach of protocol that the entire world has seen and judged. This entire dialogue is sickening. Did most of you people even know who Taylor Swift was before this?! No. And now you do and you love her and she'll make lots of money because of it. I'm not saying it was a nice thing to do, but the only person it will affect negatively is him. I doubt Swift is gonna suffer PTSD from this.

  • nmuva98

    Dude, come on--I'm not a Taylor Swift fan, but you ought to check your facts before you post.



    You might not know who she is, but Taylor Swift was the highest selling musical act of 2008, and Forbes estimated she made close to $20mm last year.



    Her latest album has sold about 4mm copies to date, while Kanye's lastest effort has sold half that.





  • Bernie Madoff-Goetz

    Part II of a staged pop culture controversy. MTV wins, Leno wins, Kanye wins, bloggers win, etc.

  • books

    Its all FAKE. C'mon people, the whole Kayne West is the bad guy, Beyonce is the hero, poor country singer is all a skit - maybe everyone wasnt in on it - but this shit happens too much on the vmas to be real

  • jtj74

    Jesus, I can't believe someone quoted Carlos Mencia...

  • MT

    Even in his apology he's an unrepentant egotist. It's all about him. Not that I particularly care about the VMAs but he ruined a really significant moment for some poor girl. He can't ever give that back to her. Beyonce showed true class by trying to make it up to her. If I was Beyonce I would have been mortified that idiot did that in my name. She was right that your first award is a great moment in your life. Kanye West needs to have the worst possible punishment brought down on him - no one paying attention to him anymore.

  • TrippinJoJo

    boycott kanye.

  • jt10000

    Kanye West is not an asshole, he's more of sad nut with no self-control. Zero. I feel sorry for him not being able to act like an adult when his emotions get hot. Totally different than Joe Wilson who is not really sorry for what he said, despite his pronouncements.



    Kanye West is like a child, and needs some counseling/education to learn to behave like an adult. He shouldn't wait till his next screwup, but start now. Also, Kanye West is ridiculously talented as a producer/performer.

  • casey shain

    ridiculously talented? let's just leave it at ridiculous. his last CD where he 'sang' is probably the worst release in 10 years from any 'major' artist, and i use 'major' with disclaiming quotes.



    and to the people that think it was scripted, all you have to do is see the look in Swift's eyes when she realizes what's going on. that was one very publicly crushed 17 year old. and Leno had Jay-Z booked weeks ago. he's not one to jump on the bandwagon and he had no choice but to 'interview' West after the incident the night before.

  • lizeyp

    damn, gothamist--do you people EVER proofread? i am truly at a "lost for words."

  • Okay, idiomatically it's not what the norm is, but it still works.

  • lizeyp

    but you do it ALL THE TIME.

  • Sir Bonkers

    I know right... and no they don't.

  • jjazznola

    This talentless loser was born rude. And Leno is also a jerk for having him on his crappy show. Anything for ratings. Who's on tomorrow, Serena?

  • Quenepa

    BINGO on all levels



    I suppose as long as you look sad or want to give a hug to the person you said you would f-up everything is fine.

  • casey shain

    more class than Sharpton? PALEEZ. West has less class than Joe Wilson, and that's pretty damn low. his Leno show sit-down was pathetic. his 'performance' later was even more pathetic. he just kept stumbling around with Jay Z picking up his cues and Rihanna trying to stay out of his way. Kanye deserves no credit at all.

  • tingo

    Spin spinny spinmeister PR damage control, by the script at work here. That's what he pays them the big bucks for.

  • ides_of_march

    He's got more class than Al Sharpton who has made a living out of slandering innocent white people without a shred of remorse. That's not saying much but I will give credit where it is due.

  • Clarice City

    Better than Al Sharpton? Anyone is better than that racist low life.

  • imadick

    slandering innocent white people? you're not talking about george bush are you? he ain't innocent, and he sure does hate black people.

  • Thespis

    He's better than Al Sharpton. But, really, who isn't?

  • NannyState

    People who lose a parent do crazy stuff. They drink, they gamble, they engage in self-destructive behaviors almost as if they are baiting the lost parent to return and discipline them. But they get nothing back and that emptiness only drives them deeper into their despair and self-destruction. Kanye is probably going through this and what happened on that stupid awards show is probably just the tip of the iceberg. If he doesn't have a therapist, he should get one.

  • sexisicilian

    I lost both of my parents before I was 30 yrs. old & we all have our crosses to bare but just because this loser is in the public eye does not give him hte right to make other people feel bad.

  • NannyState

    True. He has no right to hurt others which is why he needs to get out of the limelight and into therapy.

  • sexisicilian

    Oh please I lost both of my parents BEFORE I was 30 yrs old & we all have crosses to bear but just because this loser is in the public eye he does not have the right to make other people feel bad.

  • jules1000

    totally agree. I lost my dad, and I didn't behave like a disrespectful idiot as a result.

    And again, he behaved like this before the death of his mother.



    I also think that we cannot diagnose him for what psychological issue exactly he has (besides inflated gigantic ego) from just the stuff that we see on TV.



    Perhaps he's just an asshole??

  • AvenueHebrew

    He's publicly acted this way since before his mother's death. Just perhaps not to such an extreme degree. Normally I'm one to roll my eyes at people playing Tabloid Psychologist, as there's no way we'll ever really know these people. But his penchant for extreme reactions and histrionic "soul-searching" paints a pretty clear picture in my mind of a bipolar disorder.

  • nicemarmot

    100% agreed - I admit I like to play armchair shrink but Kanye just SCREAMS bipolar II to me. I used to date a guy with bipolar who was very like Kanye, minus the ability to act out on national live television. Everything had to be about him, and when you finally made him realize he'd done wrong, he'd get depressed and crazy. It's not so much a debilitating disorder as a really annoying one for everyone around you...

  • ribaldry

    He bullied a clueless teenage white girl. It was clearly racial.

  • Shinobi Shaw

    I think it's interesting to see the underlying psychological themes running through both Kanye and the Public themselves.



    Kanye clearly was immature, tacky, and tasteless, who is utterly starving for attention.



    The backlash from the Public (as well as the whole Serena controversy) also shows that the Public to are....



    a. bored, they want some drama in their lives and being part of this gets their Ego going (just like Kanye!)



    b. They project their own Shadow archetype and look like they are ready for a hanging.



    If they really cared they should have never given Kanye's stupidity any more publicity, any more fire.



    The Public feeds on the judgement as Kanye feeds on the drama from Sunday.

  • Shinobi Shaw

    I hope you're being sarcastic, because it clearly was not. Stupid? Yes, Racial? Clearly NO.

  • urzzz

    kanye needs to stop sippy sipping

  • Tar_Baby

    TNB

  • nivek

    What was it that Carlos Mencia called this sort of shit? Oh yeah! DEE DEEE DEEEE

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