Here are some photos of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian out and about on Tuesday and Wednesday in NYC. Kanye is in town because he’s launching something or another. Anyway, we’re still talking Kanye’s temper tantrum at the Grammys, or more specifically, in his post-Grammy interview with E!. A lot of people thought Kanye was just joking when he rushed the Grammy stage as Beck was trying to collect his trophy for Album of the Year, but in the E! interview, Kanye name-checked Beck directly, saying that Beck needed to give his trophy to Beyonce and basically saying the Grammy producers need to show more respect to “real artists” like himself, Beyonce, Jay-Z. Rather than respecting Beck. Well, Kanye went on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show yesterday to explain/apologize. Some highlights:

Why he stage-rushed Beck: “You know, I felt like just the whole Grammys, right when that happened, everybody was looking at me, and then people started screaming, ‘Kanye! Kanye! Go do it!’ Okay, that didn’t really happen, these were voices in my head. So the voices in my head told me to go up, and then I just walked up, like, halfway up the stage.”

He didn’t intend to disrespect Beck: “You know, what I really wanted to do is just joke around with what had happened before [with Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs], but I just really didn’t want to take away from Beck’s moment or the time he’s having to talk, because, you know, the Grammys, they play music really quick no matter who you are and everything. So I didn’t want anything to take away from his screen time. So I just walked back down because, you know, it was kind of a joke, like the Grammys themselves.”

Kanye likes Beck: “Well, first of all, Beck is one of the nicest guys and one of the most respected musicians in the game. So there’s nothing that I would want to do as a fellow musician to disrespect him in any way.”

He likes a jolt of truth: “The weird thing is — and I don’t feel like I have the right to take away from people’s moments, but the reality of it is — it’s almost like a chiropractor. You know, you just get a little crook out, like, ‘Wow, this crook has been there!’ It’s just a little jolt of truth, right? And then, you know, everyone feels better after the fact, or everyone sells way more albums after the fact, and then Kanye just goes on being an a–hole to everyone.”

His comments about Beck on E!: “Well, you know what happened? It’s because I sat there and I kind of let that [smolder] and I was asked my opinion and I was given a platform. And when given a platform, it’s very hard, as we know — and I’m going to talk in third person like I’m a crazy person — but it’s very hard for Kanye West to not be very true and vocal to what he feels… [But] I think it came off the wrong way, and that was a mis-wording on my part, because obviously Beck is one of the most respected artists and respects artistry. But I felt — and this is my opinion and he’s his own man and he’s not wrong and we’ll still go play basketball and stuff [unless] he doesn’t want to do it — that even though the Grammys sometimes give awards to people who you wouldn’t think should win in the category, as a respect to artists, we mention the other artist’s name in our speech…”

[From E! News]

Wait, is Kanye saying he plays basketball with Beck?! Just my opinion, which I feel like I’ve written a million times this week: I didn’t think it was bad or disrespectful that Kanye stage-rushed Beck. Beck was into it, it was funny and self-referential, and even Prince laughed. What bothered a lot of people (including Shirley Manson!) were Kanye’s comments on E!, where he really did disrespect Beck’s music and Beck as an artist. And that’s why Yeezus should apologize to Beck directly. As for the voices in Kanye’s head… I’m pretty sure he’s joking. Right? Right.

Oh, and Kanye also talked about Taylor Swift in this interview. He claims Tay-Tay told him that he should have stayed on stage with Beck and that Taylor saying that to him was “the irony of my life!” He also claims Swifty “wants to get in the studio, and we’re definitely going to go in.” He stated, with regards to Swifty: “I don’t discriminate. I don’t have an elitism of music because of how many Grammys or, you know, the amount of ratings you get on an album.”

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.