Kanye West Apologizes On Jay Leno

Tonight on the premiere of The Jay Leno Show, Kanye West was set to perform along with Jay-Z and Rihanna. Given the drama West caused after interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech when she won for Best Female Video during last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, and the resulting negative feedback he got from all directions, Kanye wanted to speak with Jay before he performed.

Below is West's complete segment with Leno.



When Leno asked how today was for West, he stated, “It’s been difficult. Just dealing with the fact that I hurt someone or took anything away from a talented artist or from anyone, because I only wanted to help people. My entire life, I’ve only wanted to give and do something that I felt was right. And I immediately knew in this situation that it was wrong and it wasn’t a spectacle. It’s actually someone’s emotions that I stepped on. It was very… it was rude, period. I’d like to be able to apologize to her in person.”

Leno asked him when he knew it was wrong. West said, “As soon as I gave the mic back to her and she didn’t keep going….” That got some chuckles from the crowd, more in the direction of West’s awkward expression as he said that.

Leno asked Kanye what he thinks his mother would’ve said about this. West’s response was silence at first and then he went on to say, “Obviously, I deal with hurt. So many celebrities, they never take the time off and I’ve never taken the time off to really… just music after music and tour after tour. I’m just ashamed that my hurt caused someone else’s hurt. My dream of what award shows are supposed to be caused… I don’t try to justify it because I was just in the wrong. I need, after this to take some time off and analyze how I’m gonna make it through the rest of this life. How I’m gonna improve, because I am a celebrity and that’s just something I’m going to have to deal with. If there’s anything I can do to help Taylor in the future or to help anyone….”

He sort of trailed off after that. If you missed it, as I said, NBC.com will have it posted once it airs on the West Coast. It seemed genuine enough to me but if you were as put off by what West did last night as I was, I recommend you check it out and judge for yourself.

As for the performance that followed, it was actually really good. To add to that, Leno’s first episode on the whole was entertaining and Leno fans will probably be happy with what he’s bring to this not-quite-late-night show.

The Jay Leno Show airs week nights at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC.

Update: Below is the full video: