Michael Che revealed that Kanye West apologized to him for a rant during a Saturday Night Live episode in 2018
After West’s rant, Che confronted the rapper backstage about his wild behavior. Footage from their confrontation recently came to light and will be included in the new documentary, “In Whose Name?”
Appearing on SiriusXM’s The Bonfire, Che gave his account of the incident.
“Was that the last time you talked to him, or you talked to him since?” Robert Kelly asked Che.
“No, actually. And that’s another reason why I don’t really like talking about it,” Che responded. “Because the next time I saw him was years later, I remember. It was the Eddie Murphy show, and every Black person in Hollywood was at this show. Like, literally. It was crazy. There were people that had never come to SNL.”
“I had a lot in that show, and I was running around crazy. People were in my dressing room, kind of using it as their green room,” he continued.
“And I’m walking through the hallway and [Kanye’s] coming out of the elevator bay. And as soon as he sees me, he goes, ‘I owe you an apology,’” Che said.
Che was surprised that West remembered the incident.
“And I hadn’t seen him in years,” Che said. “I didn’t even know if he remembered that that happened because he was saying so much. And he was like, ‘I owe you an apology.’ And we talked, and I was like, I never brought it up again.”
Following his season premiere performance, Wst, sporting a controversial MAGA hat, gave a pro-Donald Trump speech to the cast and audience as the credits rolled. West, who also claimed he was “bullied” backstage for his choice of headwear.
After meeting him in the hallway when the show was over, Che gave West a piece of his mind.
“You good with me?” Che asked Kanye after the rant. “That was f—-ed up!”
“Why was that?” Kanye says.
“Why you gotta call me out on the f***in’ [stage] if I don’t got a chance to say anything for myself?” Che asked.
West claimed he was upset about Leslie Jones making a Bill Cosby joke.
“I’m the Black comedian that made a joke about Cosby,” Che said, correcting him. “That’s f****ed up. Why would you do that to me?”
“Aw, man, I love you though, bro,” Kanye responded.
“I love you too. I’m a fan. But why would you do that to me? I work here! I work here! Come on, man,” Che said. “We treat everybody that come in like family, and you’re gonna sell us out? That’s f***ed up, man! We look up to you, we love you. What you got against us?”