Kanye West's Emotional Tweets Offer Apology

In an impassioned string of over 70 140-character tweets, Kanye West, 33, skewered himself for his behavior over a year ago at the MTV VMA’s when he hijacked the stage from award winner Taylor Swift, 20. In that notorious incident, West bizarrely ran on stage as Swift was accepting her Best Female Video award and grabbed it from her, calling Beyonce‘s "Single Ladies" video "one of the best videos of all time."

In the year that’s followed, West has been put through the wringer for his actions, with even President Obama calling the rapper a "jackass." West apologized for the outburst then, proceeding to take time off from the media. But for whatever reason, West’s new series of tweets offer an even more emotional apology. The tweets, which finally end with the simple "It starts with this…I’m sorry Taylor" are a prolonged rant on race, press and other assorted topics.

Expressing his distress at the backlash, he tweeted, "How deep is the scar… I bled hard…" going on to say that "there are people who don’t dislike me… they absolutely hate me!" Calling out the media for "demonizing" him, West bemoaned the fact that people perceived him as a racist. He offered to make amends to Swift, saying "I wrote a song for Taylor Swift that’s so beautiful and I want her to have it. If she won’t take it then I’ll perform it for her." West seems to have learned his lesson. "When I woke up from the crazy nightmare I looked in the mirror and said GROW UP KANYE … I take the responsibility for my actions," he said. 

West, who until a few days ago was only following Justin Bieber on Twitter, now also follows Swift. West will return to the scene of the crime at this year’s VMAs on September 12. —AMY LEE