14 DAY TRIAL // Kanye West must be now the most hated celebrity, judging by the way the fans and other stars reacted to his outburst at the MTV 2009 Video Music Awards, when he interrupted Taylor Swift as he was about to thank her fans for helping her win an award for Best Female Video. Hours after the incident, Kanye appeared on Jay Leno and offered an impromptu apology to Swift, where he tried to explain to the audience what made him act that way.
Although welcomed on the set with applause, Kanye doesn’t even attempt to smile, even when Jay Leno tries to make an obvious joke by asking him how his day was. Instead, the rapper goes straight to the point and says his day has been miserable because the consequences of his rash action at the VMAs – rushing on stage to steal Taylor Swift’s thunder – have just dawned on him. For all that matters, he is incredibly sorry for what he did and even plans to offer Taylor an apology in person.
“It’s been really difficult. I’m just dealing with the fact that I hurt someone or took anything away from a talented artist or from anywhere. I only wanted to help people. All my life I only wanted to give and do something that I felt was right. It was just very rude, period. I’d like to apologize to her in person.” Kanye tells Leno. He also explains that he only realized he was stepping out of line when he handed the microphone back to the country singer and she just stood there, unable to say anything and clearly not planning on going on with her speech.
The rapper also believes his outburst might have had something to do with him never taking time off once he completed a project and just pushing himself farther and farther. However, it’s when Leno brings up the topic of his late mother – and how she’d react to Kanye’s rude gesture, more specifically – that the rapper is truly lost for words. After pausing for a good 20 seconds, West insists he should have never let his hurt or, for that matter, his idea of how music awards should be, put a damper on someone else’s joy and accomplishments, like it happened with Taylor.
“Obviously, I deal with hurt, and 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. 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.” Kanye says.
Watch the video of Kanye West on Jay Leno and his apology below.