Rapper Kanye West’s behavior at the 2009 VMA Awards helped him earn criticism from the most powerful man on earth, United States President, Barack Obama.
President Obama was being interviewed for CNBC earlier today when he labeled West a “jackass” for crashing the stage as country singer Taylor Swift was receiving an award for Best Female Video.
President Obama made the “jackass” comment about West during an off the record portion of an interview.
“Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential,” ABC’s Terry Moran Tweeted before deleting the comment.
ABC issued a statement apologizing for Moran’s Tweet.
“ABC In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview,” ABC said in a statement. “This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.”
The Presidential backlash comes after an allegedly drunk Kanye West interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me,” which topped Beyonce’s#### song “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It.)”