What a week!
Kanye West threw a tantrum backstage at Saturday Night Live and threatened to walk off moments before and during the live broadcast on February 13, multiple sources confirm to Us Weekly.
West was very upset about last-minute modifications to his stage setup, according to insiders. The no-frills performance included a simple video screen backdrop and not much else. “They took down half of the set 30 minutes before he was going to air,” a source tells Us. “When someone from his team told him, he was not happy. He was very specific and insistent about his camerawork all week.”
Luckily, SNL creator and producer Lorne Michaels and West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, stepped in to calm down the “All Day” rapper and persuade him not to bail on the live NBC show, according to Page Six, which broke the story on Monday. Michaels and Kardashian, who was watching the show from the audience with half-sister Kylie Jenner, were able to convince him the show must go on.
West, 38, eventually took the stage to perform “Highlights” and “Ultralight Beam” from his new album, The Life of Pablo.
“Kanye said there was a big issue with furniture,” a second source explains to Us. “It was all that anyone talked about at the afterparty.”
It’s possible West’s stressful week contributed to the meltdown. Just a day later, the Yeezy designer tweeted that he’s $53 million in debt and begged Mark Zuckerberg to help bail him out and invest in his creative ideas. He also publicly feuded with Taylor Swift after he debuted his new album at his New York Fashion Week show on Thursday, February 11, where it was revealed that one of his new tracks contained a lyric claiming he made “that bitch famous.”
