Hear Kanye West's SNL Meltdown

If you’ve been keeping tabs on Saturday Night Live, you probably already know that Kanye West was the musical guest on the long-running sketch series this past weekend. You may even know that he had a meltdown prior to performing in Studio 8H. However, we didn’t know the context of the meltdown this weekend when the reports first came out. Now, some audio from the night of the Saturday Night Live taping has come out, and it’s pretty juicy.

The report was obtained by Page Six and features Kanye dropping f-bombs left and right as he warns people not to fuck with him. In addition, somehow he’s still not over his ire for Taylor Swift, calling her a “fake ass.” Check out the probably NSFW, curse-filled rant, below.

Kanye West’s beef with Taylor Swift is not new news and since the SNL appearance came around the time of the Grammys, it makes sense that the singer was on his mind. He said insulting things about Swift on his album, after all. (She had her own response at the Grammys a few days later.) That’s not even the odd part of his rant, though. At one point, the rapper goes off about how he’s the "50% more influential than any other human being," also name dropping freaking Pablo Escobar and Stanley Kubrick, not to mention Apostle Paul.

Are they fucking crazy? Whoa by 50% Stanley Kubrick, Picasso, Apostle Paul, fucking Picasso and Escobar. By 50% more influential than any other human being. Don’t fuck with me. Don’t fuck with me. Don’t fuckk with me. By 50% dead or alive, by 50% for the next 1,000 years. Stanley Kubrick, ‘Ye.

Early reports indicated that Kanye West got upset when the stage wasn’t set up in the manner he wanted. The video correlates with the news that he totally freaked out backstage. As he was having his temper tantrum, Kim Kardashian was summoned from the audience to come and soothe him. These Kardashian ladies really know how to pick ‘em. It worked though. Kanye West eventually did go on.

kanye west snl

This weekend’s gig on Saturday Night Live wasn’t Kanye West’s first rodeo with the show, so presumably he should have been aware of the way the late night series sets things up. But the set weren’t perfect and the temperamental part of his personality clearly got the better of him. That may be the last time he gets to perform in that particular studio because of it. We'll have to wait and see.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.