Kanye West Sits Down with Matt Lauer on ‘Today’ Show

After taking to his Twitter account to express his outrage over an interview with Matt Lauer, the full “Today” show interview reveals why. During the pre-taped chat, things took a turn for the worse after the network made ‘Ye watch a clip of former President Bush speaking about the rapper’s infamous remarks.

“I didn’t need you guys to show me the tape and prompt my emotions to what I’m going to say,” said an irritated Kanye. “Pre-looking at his face, I came up here because I wanted to say something to him right after the fact. I don’t really have to do the TV stuff. This is reality, this is the real thing going on. I don’t need all the jazz.”

Taking the high road, the Chi-town MC continued the interview by explaining why he made remarks against Bush in 2005 regarding his response to Hurricane Katrina.

“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,” he said. “I came here to say I’ve made mistakes and grown as a person and that it’s not as easy as boxing someone into a villain role or into a race role. I did not have the information, enough information in that situation to call him a racist. That might’ve been the emotion that I felt.”

Yesterday, Kanye explained how the interview went wrong by venting on his Twitter account, stating that Lauer tried to force his answers. “I don’t mess with Matt Lauer or the Today Show … and that’s a very nice way for me to put it!” he wrote. “HE TRIED TO FORCE MY ANSWERS. IT WAS VERY BRUTAL AND I CAME THERE WITH ONLY POSITIVE INTENT.”