Kanye West Cancels 'Today' Show Performance

On Thursday morning, the "Today" show aired its much-discussed interview with Kanye West, that concluded with host Matt Lauer announcing that West would return to the show on November 26 for "a special live concert on the plaza."

And though, earlier in the week, West seemed to be announcing he'd take a break from Twitter when he wrote, "gonna sit these next few plays out," Lauer's announcement apparently forced him to strap the pads back on. Early Friday morning (November 12), 'Ye took to his Twitter account once again (from Dubai), to continue his screed against the show.

"I'm not performing on the 'Today' show for obvious reasons," West wrote. "I'm so happy the world got to see a small piece of 'the set up.' I blatantly said I'm not performing [on the show] on a tweet ... and the next day they still announced a performance.

"Do you guys see what I'm saying now?" he continued. "This is just a small slice of the day-to-day bullsh-- that goes on that helps to precipitate the idea that I['m] such an a--hole. Cause when I don't perform 'Oh Nooow I'm the one that's crazy or a jerk.' "

The tweet West was referring to was a message he posted on Tuesday, in which he wrote, "I don't mess with Matt Lauer or the 'Today' show ... and that's a very nice way for me to put it." Whether or not that constitutes him "blatantly" announcing he would not perform on the show is a matter that could be debated endlessly, but West wasn't about to allow semantics to slow him down, as he continued dissecting his "Today" interview in a series of messages.

"I want you guys to look at that footage and start to put everything together now. It's very simple to call someone angry or spoiled or the one thousand names I've been called, but it's harder to try to take a look at what's really behind the curtain," he wrote. "I'm so happy that my real fans are not as 'basic' as the media makes them out to be. Did you see them try to justify playing the audio [of West's infamous VMA run-in with Taylor Swift] under my interview? Yo, sometimes you're just wrong and it ain't nothing you can say to justify it. Believe me, I know!"

West then shifted tones, writing, "I'm not complaining. I'm tweeting because I'm so happy you guys got to see this sh-- really go down." And he made it clear that he's already moved on from the incident, extending an olive branch to Lauer and the entire "Today" show staff. Sort of.

"I don't hate Matt Lauer ... we don't promote hate. That's the whole point. I promote love and truth," he wrote. "You know what? We off that! They made a mistake. They thought they could pull it but they couldn't. That was just a small representation of a bigger media play that's been going on since the beginning of time. All positive energy ... all smiles. Much love to Matt and the whole 'Today' show. I accept ya'll future apology in advance."