Us Weekly writes that President Obama has declared in a recent interview for The Atlantic that he still thinks Kanye West is a jackass. The current declaration is related to a 2009 episode when the rapper offended singer Taylor Swift during the Video Music Awards because he thought she didn’t deserve the Best Female Video trophy.
Barack Obama was invited to take part in an interview for the May issue of The Atlantic magazine. The President tackled many subjects including his aversion towards Jay-Z’s friend, Kanye West. He told reporters that he considers West to be a talented and smart interpreter, but he, nevertheless, finds Jay-Z’s music to be more appropriate for his style.
Reporters at The Atlantic did not miss the chance to remind Obama that he once called the 34-year-old rapper a “jackass”. The President was not ashamed of admitting his initial declaration; on the contrary, he stated that he still thinks Kanye West is a jackass for the way he behaved at the 2009 VMA edition.
For those who are not familiar with the subject, Jay-Z’s collaborator and friendly rival went on stage and expressed his opinion about the awards. Taylor Swift was delivering her acceptance speech for the Best Female Video award when she was interrupted by a visibly intoxicated West who wanted to tell people that Beyonce’s video was “the best in the world”. Swift was somewhat offended as the rapper indirectly stated that she shouldn’t have won the prize. The same reaction came from the crowd who booed the performer off the stage.
After seeing the video footage from the Video Music Awards, President Barack Obama told CNBC that Kanye’s behavior was “wildly inappropriate”. He further commented on the event saying that Taylor Swift looked like a nice young lady who was excited to receive her award. The perfect image was ruined, in Obama’s opinion by the rapper’s appearance on stage. “What’s he doing up there? He’s a jackass,” the President concluded.
Kanye West made no comments in relation to Obama’s offence and we assume he won’t make any in the future, either. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that his behavior was rude and promised to act more politely.
