Speaking Hypotheticallys Blog Spot

November 11, 2010

Kanye West Interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show

The Today show interview that Kanye West called “VERY BRUTAL” on Twitter yesterday aired in part today, letting the world see the exchange that made West tweet, “I feel very alone very used very tortured very forced very misunderstood very hollow very very misused.”
After introducing the segment this morning, Today host Matt Lauer played West’s remarks about accusing George W. Bush of racism after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “As far as it being the worst moment of his presidency, you know, I can’t really speak to that,” the rapper said. “But his take, his explanation, I completely agree with and I empathize with totally.”
The trouble in their interview began a moment later, when the Today show cued footage of Lauer’s recent interview with Bush. “I didn’t need you guys to show me the tape in order to prompt my emotions or whatever,” West said in an annoyed tone. “I don’t need all the jazz…Can we be quiet for a second?”
Pressed by Lauer to further explain his thoughts on the Bush incident, West went back on message. “I want to give it the exact perfect wording, because everything I say gets taken and drawn into headlines,” he noted. “I’m here to man up to different mistakes that I made, and speak to the moment when I pegged George Bush as a racist. I came here to say that I made mistakes and I’ve grown as a person.”
But when Today cued another clip of West interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs, he complained again. “Yo, how am I supposed to talk if you’re going to run the thing in the middle while I’m talking?…Please don’t let that happen again. It’s ridiculous.”
In this morning’s segment, Lauer defended the practice of showing old footage during interviews as standard. I Think Kanye had the right to feel disrespected.