From tonight's premiere of NBC's "The Jay Leno Show," producers naturally got Kanye West off the mike for a moment to talk about Taylor Swift and the MTV Video Music Awards ...full text:
From tonight’s premiere of NBC’s “The Jay Leno Show,” producers naturally got Kanye West off the mike for a moment to talk about Taylor Swift and the MTV Video Music Awards … video:
Full text:
JAY LENO: Welcome back, everybody. We’re thrilled to
have Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West here tonight. But
before they perform, this really wasn’t planned; we
did this kind of last minute. Kanye wanted to talk,
so please welcome Kanye West.
(Applause.)
Have a seat, my friend. First of all, let me say
thank you for honoring this commitment. A lot of
times, people — things happen. They kind of back out
at the last minute, or they have a publicist or
someone call and say, “Oh, I’m sorry, my client’s not
available.” So thank you for coming and doing this,
in light of all the things that have been going on.
Tell me about your day. Have you had a tough day
today?
(Laughter.)
KANYE WEST: Yeah, it’s been extremely difficult. I
just — just dealing with the fact that I hurt someone
or took anything away, you know, 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 the situation that it was wrong, and it wasn’t
a spectacle or just — you know, it’s actually
someone’s emotions, you know, that I stepped on. And
it was very — it was just — it was rude, period.
And, you know, I’d like to be able to apologize to her
in person. And I wanted to —
JAY LENO: So when did you know you were wrong? Was
it afterwards? as you were doing it? When did it
strike you, “Uh-oh”?
KANYE WEST: As soon as I gave the mic back to her and
she didn’t keep going.
(Laughter.)
JAY LENO: Let me ask you something. I was fortunate
enough to meet your mom and talk with your mom a
number of years ago. What do you think she would have
said about this? Would she be disappointed in this?
Would she give you a lecture?
KANYE WEST: Yeah. You know, obviously, you know, I
deal with hurt. And, you know, so many celebrities,
they never take the time off. I’ve never taken the
time off to really — you know, just music after music
and tour after tour. I’m just ashamed that my hurt
caused someone else’s hurt. My dream of what awards
shows are supposed to be, ’cause — and I don’t try to
justify it because I was just in the wrong. That’s
period. But I need to, after this, take some time off
and just analyze how I’m going to make it through the
rest of this life, how I’m going to improve. Because
I am a celebrity, and that’s something I have to deal
with. And if there’s anything I could do to help
Taylor in the future or help anyone, I’d like — you
know, I want to live this thing. It’s hard sometimes,
so —
JAY LENO: Thanks for coming here, and thanks for
doing that.
(Applause.)
You’re going to sing? Give it a shot?
Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West have a combined total
of 20 Grammys, have sold over 70 million albums. They
are tremendously talented. Tonight they’re performing
“Run This Town” from Jay-Z’s critically acclaimed CD
“The Blueprint 3.” Please welcome Jay-Z, Rihanna, and
Kanye West.
(Performance by Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West.)
(Applause.)
Yeah. Rihanna, wonderful. Thank you so much. That
was great. Thank you, man. Thank you kindly. That
was great.
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