Kanye West cancels performance at NBC's Today show

[News_Editor]

Kanye West cancels performance at NBC's Today show

2010-11-13 00:30:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- Acclaimed hip hop singer Kanye West on Friday announced that he decided to cancel his special performance at NBC's Today show due to a dispute with Today's host Matt Lauer after an interview.

According to the New York Times, West canceled his concert scheduled for November 26, one day after Thanksgiving as he feels that Lauer tried to force his answers during an interview taped on Tuesday.

Lauer interviewed West in regards to the comments he made about former President George Bush in which he called him a racist following the Hurricane Katrina disaster. West apologized to Bush and said he did not choose his words correctly due to his frustration at that moment.

The segment was aired on Wednesday during a live interview with President Bush, who said he appreciated the singer’s gesture. However, West voiced his discomfort with the interview in his Twitter account, saying that Lauer tried to force his answers and that conducted the interview in a brutal way.

West said that footage of his well-known confrontation with Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV’s Video Music Awards and of an earlier interview with Bush were played while he was speaking in order to coerce his answers.

On Thursday morning, a longer segment of the interview with West was aired. The approximately seven-minute footage showed the footage to which the singer was referring and the discomfort of West as the interview advances is evident.

Before presenting the segment, Lauer talked about to West’s Twitter posts and said that it is a common practice in the Today show to air archived footage as the speaker is referring to a specific subject. However, the footage was shown before West made reference to the topic.

"I’m not performing on the Today Show for obvious reasons," the rapper tweeted after the segment was broadcasted. "I’m so happy the world got to see just a small piece of the set up."

At the end of the segment, Lauer said that they were looking forward to West's special performance. The rapper concluded his Twitter comments by saying that he accepted an apology in advance from Lauer and the Today show.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-11-13