Audio of Kanye West's SNL 'meltdown' leaks

  • 19/02/2016
Kanye West (Reuters)
Kanye West (Reuters)

Audio of Kanye West's alleged meltdown backstage at Saturday Night Live over the weekend has leaked online, revealing another attack on Taylor Swift along with outrageous claims about how influential he is.

The 'Stronger' hitmaker was the musical guest on the long-running sketch comedy show on Saturday, followed by reports suggesting West threw a tantrum just before the programme started over his dissatisfaction with the set design.

Sources claimed he threatened to quit the live broadcast, but he eventually went on as scheduled, and performed two new songs from his new album The Life of Pablo.

No one seemed to be able to substantiate the drama until later this week, when an audio clip of the alleged meltdown was obtained by the New York Post.

In the clip, a man who sounds like West declares he is "50 percent more influential" than filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, artist Picasso, Paul the Apostle, drug lord Pablo Escobar or any other human to be born in the next 1000 years.

He also rages about a change in the stage set up, crying: "Look at that shit. They took my f**king stage off of SNL without asking me... Now I'm bummed. That and Taylor Swift, fake ass."

His reference to Swift came days after he name-dropped the pop star in a new track, called 'Famous', in which he states he "made that bitch famous".

The lyrics refer to the West's infamous stage invasion at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, when he ruined Swift's acceptance speech for Female Video the Year prize to tell the audience he thought Beyonce should have won.

Swift responded in her powerful Grammy speech earlier this week, although she didn't mention West by name.

"I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way that will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame," Swift said.

"If you just focus on the work and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you'll know that it was you and the people who love you that put you there - and that will be the greatest feeling in the world."

WENN.com / Newshub.