Kanye West Balks At ‘Today’ During Early Media Blitz for New Album

Posted November 15, 2010 by J Matthew Cobb in News

Hip-hop savior Kanye West takes on the media juggernaut NBC in latest public rant

Rap superstar Kanye West stays in the news. We know that. All of the media circulation fueling his starpower only proves just how much might and persuasion he has in the biz.

The latest headline to surface includes his most recent visit on NBC’s “Today” last week. He spoke with Matt Lauer about the statements made by former U.S. president George W. Bush; citing that, according to his recently-published memoir, West’s explosive tirade during a Katrina telethon was the most disgusting moment of his entire two-term presidency. An apologetic and subdued West approached the question as if he was sorry about his comments.

But the hip-hop star became quickly irritated when show producers ran tapes of his previous rants involving George W. Bush and Taylor Swift. Lauer stated that it was normal protocol and customary for the show to pull up clips for reference.

“I didn’t need you guys to play the tape in order to prompt my emotion to what I’m going to say,” West said. “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, like, ridiculous.”

West was scheduled to perform on the Today Show on Nov. 26, for the release of his new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but West, infurirated with his ‘Today’ show experience, posted on his Twitter account that “I’m not performing on the Today Show for obvious reasons. I’m so happy the world got to see just a small piece of ‘the set up'”.

He later apologized to Lauer on Twitter, saying: “All positive energy … all smiles. Much love to Matt and the whole Today Show. I accept ya’ll future apology in advance.”

But it has not been confirmed by the NBC spokesmen or by West if he will not appear on Today during the “Black Friday” episode. Yahoo! Music reported that a missed opportunity to advertise his product to a relatively-strong consumer demographic, outside of his MTV audience, would hurt his weekly record sales. According to Yahoo!, “Today” viewers are considered to be “consumers who are eager to shop and spend money on the biggest retail sales day of the year.”