Kanye West gave a long rant at the MTV Video Music Awards as he apologized to Taylor Swift for taking her microphone in 2009, admitting "I don't understand awards shows" and claiming he would run for president in 2020.
Swift presented West with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award on Sunday night at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. He rambled onstage and said he "rolled up a little something" before his speech.
"This arena tomorrow is gonna be a completely different setup, this stage will be gone, after that night, the stage was gone, but the affect that it had on people remained," West said of running onstage during Swift's speech at the 2009 VMAs. "The problem was the contradiction. The contradiction is I do fight for artists, but in that fight I somehow was disrespectful to artists. I didn't know how to say the right thing, the perfect thing."
West also said he was upset at the 2007 Grammy Awards when Justin Timberlake and Gnarls Barkley lost album of the year to the Dixie Chicks.
"And Justin, I ain't try to put that man on blast, but I saw that man in tears bro and I was thinking he deserve to win album of the year," West said.
It was just one of the dramatic moments at the awards show. Nicki Minaj called Miley Cyrus out at the MTV Video Music Awards after the 22-year-old said in an interview that the rapper was being a poor sport about not receiving a nomination for video of the year.
After collecting best hip-hop video for "Anaconda" on Sunday, Minaj told the audience: "And now back to this b---- that had a lot to say about me a lot in the press. Miley, what's good?"
Minaj's microphone was cut off, and Cyrus fired back with "we all know how they manipulate" words during interviews, referencing a pre-VMAs interview in the New York Times.. Cyrus then stumbled over her words as she tried to read from cue cards about voting for the artist to watch award.
"I lost this award in 2008 and I was fine with it. Whatever! Because it's no big deal. It's just an award and I persevered," she yelled, appearing to look over at Minaj.
She ended with: "Congratulations Nicki."
In the recent interview, Cyrus criticized Minaj for her "pop star war" with Swift that began in July. On the show, however, the rapper ended her issues with Swift and they joined forces onstage.
After Minaj entertained the audience with her upbeat "Trini Dem Girls," Swift joined the rapper during her performance of the "The Night Is Still Young." Swift wore a bright red dress that mirrored Minaj's ensemble. Swift then performed some of her hit, "Bad Blood," as Minaj danced around her. They closed with a hug.
Swift, the top nominee with 10, traded words with Minaj over Twitter when the VMA nominees were announced in July. Minaj, who had one of the most viewed videos of the year with "Anaconda," is not up for video of the year, and she tweeted that slim women easily earn top nominations and said black female entertainers don't get enough credit for their influence on pop culture. Swift thought the rapper was referring to her and they traded words online, but later apologized.
Swift's nominations include video of the year, best collaboration, song of summer and more. She won best pop video and female video.
Cyrus is hosting the VMAs two years after she stole the show with a risque, but memorable performance with Robin Thicke, and a year after winning the top prize for "Wrecking Ball." She took a selfie with people in the audience and asked them to yell: "Marijuana."
"Ellen, you ain't got nothing on this," she said.
Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" earned the first Moonman in the live telecast for best male video.
"Uptown Funk forever! Thank you!" Mars yelled.
The song is also up for video of the year, and will compete with Swift's "Bad Blood," Beyonce's "7/11," Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" and Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud."