Weren’t you caught off guard when you heard Kanye West say that O.J. Simpson was amazing during his performance “Amazing”? Did you see the audience reaction? Nobody was clapping for that ish! Especially if they are still scarred from 1994’s “trial of the century” and the Vegas thing. 

I know Kanye pushes the envelope with his wardrobe and says some controversial stuff, but dayum, VH1 wasn’t taking ANY chances with him, huh? They left his comments about the Chris Brown/Rihanna situation on the cutting room floor, but yet they kept the O.J. comment? Oh well….cest la vie.

In paring the three hours down to 90 minutes, which is 30 minutes longer than the usual hour-long “Storytellers” specials, VH1 edited out those aforementioned comments – but not for political reasons, executive producer Bill Flanagan told Reuters.

 

Flanagan defended West’s openness, as VH1 encourages the artist “to just keep talking,” and producers will then “eliminate any ‘gotcha’ moments” that don’t work.

 

Regarding Brown’s arrest, West told the crowd, “Can’t we give Chris a break? I know I make mistakes in life.”       

He earned applause for his support of other stars who have seen their share of scandal. “Michael Jackson, amazing,” the hip-hop star said. “Michael Phelps, amazing. He’s a real f***in’ person. He makes mistakes.”       

VH1 cleaned up those comments, which included his less-popular follow-up observation: “OJ Simpson, amazing. Is he not? What he did, when he did, what he did. Was he not amazing, though?”      

West put Radiohead singer Thom Yorke on blast for apparently snubbing him backstage at the Grammys five days earlier. That hurt, West admitted to the audience, because he idolizes the British band and considers it one of his few creative rivals.      

“So when he performed at the Grammys, I sat the f*** down,” West said.  

You have to admit, he does know how to ruffle up some feathers. And he will say whatever he wants, whether we like it or not. Amazing it is.

To see other clips of his performance, view here.