Rare Times Kanye West Said He Was Sorry

One thing for certain: Kanye West doesn't whisper his opinion. He seems to detonate them across platforms, on social media, in interviews, and in his lyrics. Ye has never been one to retreat. When called out, he often leans in with messier, more inflammatory remarks.

Yet, every so often, an apology surfaces. These moments arrive like campaign stops, precisely timed and theatrically staged. West's most recent came abruptly as images of him standing beside Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto surfaced, showing Kanye with a carefully crafted apology to the Jewish community. This was an apparent reckoning with the antisemitic statements that have dogged him for years.

For all the harm he’s caused, from declaring “slavery was a choice” to promoting antisemitic conspiracies, Kanye rarely apologizes. When he does, he's accused of doing so not for healing but headlines. Here are a handful of the rare occasions when Kanye West has backtracked and why each moment says more about power and perception than it does about personal growth.

This was the moment when Kanye West’s public persona cracked under the weight of his own audacity. The 2009 MTV VMAs were supposed to be a celebration. Instead, it became a cultural turning point. Taylor Swift, fresh off her first Best Female Video win, was interrupted mid-speech by West, who declared the award should’ve gone to Beyoncé.

It was an unscripted moment that was unhinged. That week, Kanye’s public image spiraled. He was criticized across social media and booed on stages. Not long after, he appeared on The Jay Leno Show and expressed regret. “I’m just ashamed that my hurt caused someone else’s hurt,” said West. “My dream of what awards shows are supposed to be, ’cause — and I don’t try to justify it because I was just in the wrong.”

For a moment, it seemed to land, but with Kanye, everything loops. Over the years, his stance on the incident has shifted. He apologized, then recanted, then doubled back again. His "beef" with Swift would go on for years, making this apology a blip in their tense timeline.

Their marriage was never a secret and the unraveling wasn’t either. It was July 2020, and in South Carolina, at his first presidential campaign rally, Ye told a crowd something he never should have. He revealed that he and Kim had once considered terminating her pregnancy with their eldest daughter, North.

Kim Kardashian reportedly felt betrayed and exposed. One of the most intimate decisions in her life was turned into campaign bait and livestreamed to the world. The internet exploded. Still, this wasn't the only time West aired out his dirty laundry with his then wife. He would share screenshots of their conversations. Ye would publicly state that Kardashian was trying to keep him from seeing his children. He slang accusations of censorship and conspiracies against him. However, years ago, while on Good Morning America, West offered up an apology.

“This is the mother of my children, and I apologize for any stress that I have caused, even in my frustration because God calls me to be stronger,” said Ye. “But also, ain’t nobody else needs to be causing no stress either. I need this person to be least stressed and at best sound mind and as calm as possible to be able to raise those children.”

The apology didn’t save the marriage. It was too late. The damage had already gone viral.

For years, Kanye insisted there was no beef, but every headline said otherwise. Yet, things didn't take a sharp turn until 2018. It was during this time that Drizzy was at lyrical war with Pusha T. It was believed that not long after Push's explosive "Story of Adidon" landed, West also dropped an alleged Drake diss of his own with "No Mistakes."

There were also rumors that West was the one who leaked news of Drake’s son. Amid the chaos, Kanye West jumped online to issue a public apology of sorts to Drake. “Let me start by apologizing for stepping on your release date in the first place," West began. "We were building a bond and working on music together including squashing the issues with [Kid] Cudi at our office.” He also said he never shared any personal information about Drake's writing or home life.

“There should have been no songs with my involvement that had any negative energy towards you," Ye added. “I did not have any conversations about your child with Pusha... I don’t play with the idea of people’s children after I spoke to Wiz a few years earlier.”

Years later, they would share a stage in L.A. under the guise of unity. West has made statements about his frienemy in the years since, leaving fans to continue to wonder if these two are really on the same page or not.

Jay-Z and Kanye weren’t just collaborators, they seemed like family. When they broke apart, it wasn’t with press releases or PR statements. On stage, Kanye would publicly accuse Jay of turning his back on him. Behind closed doors, the friendship had already fractured.

In 2016, Kanye used his Saint Pablo tour to air out every lingering wound. He accused Jay-Z of not checking on him after Kim’s robbery. He said their children had never played together and mde allegations about the mental state of Hov and Bey's kids. Ye also questioned his friend's loyalty.

What came next wasn’t immediate reconciliation but years of distance. The brotherhood that once gave us Watch the Throne became another casualty of Kanye’s unraveling. Then, Kanye took a step that felt different. "I’m sorry Jay Z," Ye tweeted. "I be feeling bad about my tweet but I still feel I gave my life to this industry and thought so many people were my family but when I needed family on some real sh*t none of these rap n*ggas had my back."

Just a few tweets later, however, West was back to his antics. He sent a vulgar message about Beyoncé, proving to some that this apology was a flash in the pan. Their relationship remains strained, although for a time, West fed rumors of a potential Watch the Throne II.

Some things can’t be walked back on but that’s never stopped Kanye from trying. In late 2022, Kanye West unraveled in front of the world. The tweets, the interviews, the “White Lives Matter” shirts, the praise for Hitler—it spiraled quickly. Brands fled. Balenciaga cut ties. Adidas dropped him, costing him billions overnight. It looked like Kanye had finally found the one line he couldn’t cross without consequence.

In 2024 and again in 2025, he returned with apologies directed toward the Jewish community. It wasn’t the Kanye the public was used to. Critics didn’t buy it. Many saw it as a rebranding effort rather than a reckoning. Still, Ye has been commended for this moment and supporters praised his vulnerability.

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No one is safe from Kanye West's antics, and former Vice President Kamala Harris became a target. In a now-deleted tweet, Kanye wrote, “I used to want to f*ck Kamala until she lost. I don’t f*ck losers anymore.” The comments were crude and sexist, and it landed during a period when both his social media behavior and public persona were under intense scrutiny.

Critics called the post misogynistic and disrespectful, not just to Harris as a political figure, but as a Black woman consistently navigating the vitriol of public life. Hours later, he added, “The democrats made me take the loser post down. Naw I’m kidding. Dey don’t control black people no more. Trump 4 life.” Soon, a more sincere-sounding tweet emerged from the Chicago icon. “Kamala seems like a very nice human. I just wanna say sorry to her kids.”

When two artists build brotherhood in the booth, a public breakdown becomes something that echoes. Kid Cudi signed to Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint in 2008 and featured heavily throughout Kanye’s output. Their bond seemed rooted in mutual creative respect, until Cudi's friendship with PEte Davidson, Kim Kardashian's ex-boyfriend, was called into question.

“Hey! So I know some of you heard about the song I got w Pusha,” Cudi wrote referring to the collaboration "Rock N Roll" with Ye and Pusha T. “I did this song a year ago when I was still cool w Kanye. I am not cool w that man. He’s not my friend and I only cleared the song for Pusha cuz thats my guy. This is the last song u will hear me on w Kanye.”

Last year, Cudi updated the public regarding his relationship with Ye. “He apologized to me and it was sincere,” he said. “Kanye does not apologize to anybody and say sorry to anyone.”

There are few standout incidents in Kanye West’s career have triggered the kind of widespread condemnation as his 2018 comments at the TMZ office. Standing in front of a live newsroom, West proclaimed, “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … For 400 years? That sounds like a choice." He added, “You were there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all. It’s like we’re mentally imprisoned.”

The rapper's words were called dangerous and disrespectful to the legacy of enslaved Africans and their descendants. West later hopped on Twitter trying to explain himself. Then, in an interview with Chi-town's WGCI radio station, he said, “I don’t know if I properly apologized for how the slavery comment made people feel... I’m sorry for the one-two effect of the MAGA hat into the slave comment, and I’m sorry for people that felt let down by that moment." Even now, “slavery was a choice” remains a permanent scar on his legacy.

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When we reached 2022, West had already scorched much of his goodwill. Yet, when he publicly denied the cause of George Floyd’s death, claiming it wasn’t the result of Derek Chauvin’s knee but rather drug use, it felt like a final breach.

The comments came during an interview on the Drink Champs podcast. They were echoing conspiracy theories that had already been discredited in court. Floyd’s family condemned the remarks and later filed a $250 million lawsuit against Kanye for defamation and infliction of emotional distress.

Kanye West’s apology came only after significant public and legal pressure. “When the idea of Black Lives Matter came out, it made us come together as a people,” he said. “So, I said that, and I questioned the death of George Floyd, it hurt my people. It hurt the Black people. So, I want to apologize to hurting them [sic] because right now God has shown me by what Adidas is doing, and by what the media is doing, I know how it feels to have a knee on my neck now."

What stands out most isn’t just what Kanye said in these apologies, it’s what he didn’t. Yes, Kanye has apologized. To whom, how, and why still matters, because in a generation flooded with statements, it's the sincerity behind the words, and the action that follows, that determines whether an "apology"I'm sorry" is worth remembering. In Kanye’s case, that story is still being written.

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