Kanye West has seemed obsessed with the MTV Video Music Awards ever since he notoriously stormed the stage and interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech in 2009. Years later and the rapper, who has been awarded at the event numerous times, recently canceled the remaining shows left on his Saint Pablo tour after going off on another VMAs rant this past weekend.
Relive five more times the outspoken rapper just couldn’t let the VMAs go below.
1. When He Refused to Apologize Over the Swift Incident:
West has been famously unapologetic since storming Swift’s acceptance speech in 2009. After Swift released the track “Innocent,” West told the New York Times that he doesn’t have any regrets about their iconic feud. “I don’t have one regret … If anyone’s reading this waiting for some type of full-on, flat apology for anything, they should just stop reading right now.” West also told the paper that he felt peer pressured to apologize to Swift. ”Yeah, I think that I have like, faltered, you know, as a human. My message isn’t perfectly defined. I have, as a human being, fallen to peer pressure.”
2. When Swift Presented Him With the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award:
In 2015 — before Swift and West’s feud erupted again after West’s wife Kim Kardashian released audio of their conversation over the controversial lyric “I made that bitch famous” in his song “Famous” — the “Welcome to New York” singer presented West with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, which West gladly accepted before giving a 13 minute-long acceptance speech. During his speech, he of course brought up the 2009 incident, which he said put a strain on his career. He also claimed that he was inspired to stand up for Beyonce after seeing Justin Timberlake “in tears” after losing Album of the Year at the Grammys in 2007.
3. When He Was Granted 4 Minutes To Do Whatever He Wanted at the VMAs in 2016:
During his 2016 VMAs speech, where the rapper was granted four minutes of freedom to address the crowd, he premiered his “Fade” music video while singling out Taylor Swift and again referring to Beyonce possibly beating him. “I am Kanye West,” he told the crowd. “And that feels really good to say, especially this year. I came here to present my new video. But before I do that, I’mma talk,” he said, before going into another rant. “Now, later tonight, ‘Famous’ might lose to Beyoncé, but I can’t be mad. I’m always wishing for Beyoncé to win, so … ,” he said, before explaining his “Famous” music video. “For people to understand just how blessed we are, it was an expression of our now, our fame right now, us on the inside of the TV. You know, just to, to put Anna Wintour next to Donald Trump. I mean, I put Ray J in it, bruh! This is fame, bro. Like — I see you, Amber.”
4. When He Said the VMAs Created and Ended Him:
During a concert in April 2016, West referred to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards as “the beginning of the end of my life” by talking about his headline-making track “Famous.”
“This is the song that broke the writer’s block for me, because it’s something I wanted to say so bad,” West explained at the time. “So if I get in trouble for saying the truth, what’s being said the rest of the time? And I had to fight every day of my life, with the whole world turned against me, for saying out loud what everyone else felt. But that’s the job of an artist, of a true artist: not to be controlled by their finances, not to be controlled by perceptions, but only to be controlled by their truth.”
5. When He Turned on Beyonce:
West most recently brought up the VMAs during a rant during one of his Saint Pablo shows on Saturday, November 19, where he bashed Beyonce ahead of the 2016 AMAs while also going on a rant about Jay Z and Hillary Clinton.
“Beyoncé, I was hurt, because I heard that you said you wouldn’t perform unless you won Video of the Year [at the 2016 MTV VMAs] over me, and over ‘Hotline Bling.’ Now, don’t go trying to diss Beyoncé, she is great. Taylor Swift is great. We are all great people,” he told the crowd. “We are all equal. But sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forgetting who we are just to win. F–k winning. F–k looking cool. F–k being cool. F–k all that, bro. I’ve been sent here to give y’all my truth even at the risk of my own life. Even at the risk of my own success, my own career. I’ve been sent here to give y’all my truth.”
The rapper then ended the concert early and days later canceled the remaining 21 shows of his tour.
“He’s just exhausted,” a source explained to Us of West’s decision to pull the plug. “He’s been working around the clock on fashion design, both his own line and the Adidas line. He’s a notorious workaholic … so balancing both that work — which is extremely important to him — and the rigors of the tour every night, it really wore him out. All the time spent away from his family has been a stress on him, as well. They are the most important to him.”
