The feud has been resolved.
Kanye West visited “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Wednesday to settle his beef with the late-night host.
The grudge developed last month, after Kimmel aired a Kanye parody sketch using a child actor to mock the rapper’s interview with BBC. West answered back the way people do these days – on Twitter, ripping the host’s humor … and his face … and his talent … in 140-character, caps-locked bursts.
Kimmel later joked that he always wanted to be in a rap feud.
“I was only in one other rap feud,” Kimmel said during the open of Wednesday’s episode. “It was 1992, and I accused Sir Mix-A-Lot of only liking medium butts.”
Wednesday, and it was West – dressed in a subdued blue-gray pullover and ripped jeans – burying the hatchet.
Kimmel expressed remorse for the skit, saying he simply enjoys seeing children curse.
“I didn’t think it would be something that bothered you,” he said. Kimmel discussed a wedding the two had attended together. The host was impressed by West’s character.
“I’m not running for office,” Kanye said. “I’m just here to make good music, make people feel good when they hear my music, and y’know, when I did that interview (with BBC), I was really vocal with a lot of things I’ve been dealing with in the past 10 years, and the classification of ‘just’ a celebrity.
“To me, I’m a creative genius, there’s no other way to word it. You’re not supposed to say that about yourself, and I say things the wrong way a lot of times, but my intention’s always positive.”
In stream-of-consciousness rants, West also discussed the concept of luxury; fatherhood; “protecting his ideas and his dreams;” his heroes and ambitions; his Chicago roots; trappings of fame; and lobbied for his fiancee, Kim Kardashian, to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Was this all a publicity stunt? The question was worthwhile, given the participants.
No, Kimmel says.
Kanye agreed, saying “I’ve never done a publicity stunt in my life.”
Kimmel’s beef with Kanye involved more tension and sincerity than his previous faux-feud with actor Matt Damon. Earlier this year, Damon “hijacked” an episode of Kimmel’s show following years of being bumped due to time constraints.
West was the one bumping a guest this time. Musicians Arctic Monkeys were supposed to perform, but West kept talking and talking and talking, draining time from the show – a brilliant, overexposed, misunderstood mind clearing the air with the host who dared to mock him.
This is hardly the first feud involving late-night hosts and celebrities. Remember Madonna vs. David Letterman in 1994?