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Kanye ‘Ye’ West once said that he’d never attend another awards show after his iconic incident in 2009. Here’s what he once told Ellen DeGeneres and how she reacted.
Kanye “Ye” West’s feud with Taylor Swift has forever left a mark on pop culture. What began with a now-infamous interruption at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards evolved into a decade-long rollercoaster of public apologies, private phone calls, leaked footage, and diss tracks. Their complicated dynamic has become emblematic of fame in the digital age. Here’s what West once said about “never” sitting at an awards show again following his iconic interruption.
Kanye ‘Ye’ West said he’d ‘never’ sit in another awards show after the Taylor Swift VMA incident in 2009
Kanye “Ye” West and Taylor Swift’s legendary conflict started in 2009 and extends into 2025. Swift, just 19, had barely begun her acceptance speech for Best Female Video. West stormed the stage with a now-iconic interruption. West announced, “I’ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.” What followed ignited a cultural firestorm and one of the most talked-about celebrity feuds of the decade.
Later in 2009, West went on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss what happened in the aftermath of the MTV Video Music Awards.
“It’s a pretty bugged-out story,” West told Ellen DeGeneres. “I literally left America; I stopped doing music altogether. I just took some time — I went to Japan just so I can get away from paparazzi altogether, and then in November, I moved to Rome, and just lived there. And then when I came back to the States, I moved to Hawaii and lived there. There were six months I just worked on music again.”
West said his much-needed break allowed him to “focus” on his personal and creative endeavors.
“I feel like, in some ways, that I’m a soldier of culture,” West continued, “and I realized that no one wants that to be my job, and I’ll never go on stage again. I’ll never sit in an awards show again.” The rapper added that he can’t help himself when he feels a cultural moment is “denied for years and years and years.”
“I hope you don’t mean that,” DeGeneres told him. “I hope you’ll be in an audience again. … We want to see you there.”
In 2025, West has a different standing with the public than he did in 2009. He and Bianca Censori went to the Grammy Awards in February 2025 — but, like West once promised, he didn’t stay for the show. He and Censori headed on the red carpet to perform a controversial stunt that involved Censori showing off her naked body. Given his other 2025 controversies, the music industry might try to phase him out completely.
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