Jay-Z: 'Kanye West's Taylor Swift VMA outburst was rude'

Jay-Z has said that Kanye West's outburst at the MTV Video Music Awards during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech was "rude" but has suggested that he thinks the media have overreacted in condemning him.

The rapper, who played a gig at the London Roundhouse last night (September 17), said he thought the September 12 outburst, during which West suggested that Jay-Z's wife Beyonce should have taken home the gong for Best Female Video instead, was "inappropriate".

He told BBC Radio 1 that the move had been "inappropriate at the time" and "rude because it was her [Swift's] moment but that's the way he really felt".

He added: "He's [West] just a super-passionate person. It's really an awards show and I think it's a bit of a blow out, but of course it was rude. I think it was rude, but the way they're treating him... He's on the cover of every paper. He didn't kill anybody. No one got harmed."

US President Barack Obama labelled Kanye West a "jackass" following the incident.