A remorseful Kanye West issued a formal apology to Taylor Swift in primetime on “The Jay Leno Show” on Monday.


West fought back tears while discussing Sunday’s incident where he interrupted the country singer while she was accepting her first Moonman at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. “It’s been extremely difficult, just dealing with the fact that I hurt someone or took anything away from a talented artist or from anyone,” he told Leno. “I’ve only wanted to help people my entire life. I’ve only wanted to give and do something that I felt was right. I immediately knew in this situation that it was wrong.”

West admitted to his poor behavior and wished to express his apologies to Swift. “It’s actually someone’s emotions that I stepped on. It was rude, period. I’d like to apologize to her in person.”

The rapper said his busy schedule has taken a toll on him. “You know, obviously, I deal with hurt and, you know, so many celebrities, they never take the time off,” he said after a long pause. “And I’ve never taken the time off, just music and music and tour after tour, and I’m ashamed that my hurt caused someone else’s hurt.”

He plans to take some time off to think about the future. “After this, I need to just take some time off and analyze how I’m gonna make it through the rest of this life, how I’m gonna improve, because I am a celebrity and that’s just something I have to deal with.”

West made a plea and extended a branch to Swift. “If there’s anything I can do to help Taylor in the future, or help anyone, I want to live this thing… It’s hard sometimes.”