Kanye West - West 'To Take Time Out' Over Swift Controversy

KANYE WEST was full of remorse as he apologised a third time for ruining TAYLOR SWIFT's MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech - admitting to U.S. talk show host JAY LENO he needs to "take some time off" to improve his attitude.

The rapper has come under savage criticism after he took to the stage and snatched the microphone from country singer Swift as she collected her first ever MTV VMA award on Sunday (13Sep09).

After he hailed fellow nominee Beyonce as the true winner of the Best Female Video Award, fans and famous revellers booed the Stronger hitmaker from the stage, causing organisers to ask West to leave the ceremony.

The star took to his blog on Monday (14Sep09) to apologise for disrespecting the teenager, insisting it was "her moment". He said sorry again in another blog update later the same day.

And West took his performance slot on Jay Leno's new primetime show to ask for forgiveness a third time - explaining that facing such a negative backlash has been "extremely difficult" for him to deal with.

In the interview, which aired on U.S. TV on Monday night (14Sep09), he explained, "I need to, after this, take some time off and just analyze how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life, how I'm going to improve.

"My entire life, I've only wanted to give and do something that I felt was right. And I immediately knew in the situation that it was wrong, and it wasn't a spectacle... it's actually someone's emotions, you know, that I stepped on. And it was very... it was rude, period."

Leno left West speechless when he asked the rapper what his late mother would have thought about his onstage protest.