Jay Leno kicked off his new 9:00 p.m. central time slot on NBC by scoring a huge coup with Kanye West as his premiere show guest. The appearance had been booked months in advance but the television gods shined down on the talk show host and West landed in the interview chair the night after making a spectacle of himself at the MTV Video Music Awards.
For those living under a rock, West stormed the Radio City Music Hall stage on Sunday night during Taylor Swift‘s acceptance speech for Best Female Video. He grabbed the microphone from her hand and proceeded to declare Beyonce Knowles the real winner. The musician was summarily ejected from the show – video here.
Jay became famous years ago for asking Hugh Grant, “What the hell were you thinking?” after the actor was arrested for being in the company of a prostitute. Last night he asked Kanye, “What would your dead mother think?” West, clearly taken aback by the question, finally said, “I’m ashamed, it was rude.” He also reported that he plans to “take some time off and evaluate the future.”
Check out Kanye’s appearance on the Leno Show below.