Kanye West Apologizes for Being "Disrespectful" to Taylor Swift During VMAs Acceptance Speech

Other recipients of the Video Vanguard Award include Beyoncé, The Beatles, Michael Jackson and Madonna

By McKenna Aiello Aug 31, 2015 3:50 AMTags
Kanye West, 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, VMAKevin Winter/MTV1415/Getty Images For MTV

Kanye West might have just out Kanye-d himself. 

The rapper's artistic contributions to the music industry were honored in a big way during Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards, but not without an acceptance speech that blew any previous Kanye moments way out of the water. 

West received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, an accolade previously awarded to superstars like Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Madonna and The Beatles throughout the show's more than 20-year tenure. 

Prior to Yeezy taking the stage, Taylor Swift reminisced on the infamous 2009 VMAs Best Female Video debacle that pinned the two hit makers against each other for years to follow. The "Bad Blood" singer revealed any feud between the two was laid to rest long ago, admitting that Kanye's 2004 College Dropout was the first album she bought on iTunes.  

"I'm really happy for you and Imma let you finish but Kanye has had one of the greatest careers of all time," Swift playfully joked as the honoree prepared to deliver his speech.

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

But as the crowd chanted his name, West looked visibly overwhelmed before recanting his numerous regrets surrounding the career-polarizing move. 

"If I had to do it all over again, what would I have done? Would I have worn a leather shirt? Would I have drank half a bottle of Hennessy and gave the rest of it to the audience...? If I had a daughter at that time would I have gone on stage and grabbed the mic from someone else's?" he asked.

West also acknowledged the backlash he has felt throughout his outspoken career: "The contradiction is, I do fight for artists, but in that fight I somehow was disrespectful to artists. I didn't know how to say the right thing, the perfect thing," adding, "Sometimes I feel like I died for the artists' opinion, for the artist to be able to have an opinion after they were successful."

As for someone who might not be too happy with the more than 13-minute speech? Look no further than one of the evening's final performers.

On Saturday, A$AP Rocky told MTV News he "[didn't] want to see a ranting Kanye," adding, "He doesn't have a reason to rant right now. He's the man and he's getting rewarded for something that he did, influencing people such as myself to step it up, as far as videography goes."

And to top it all off, looks like our great nation might be looking "West" for the 2020 presidential election. Yes, that's right. Kanye announced he's running for president. 

In Yeezus we trust, right?