Beck Still Has Some Surprisingly Nice Things To Say About Kanye West

February 10, 2015

Kanye West made a typically Kanye-esque return to the Grammy Awards stage yesterday, after six years away from the ceremony. Kanye almost didn’t let Beck finish after the singer-songwriter somehow took out the Album Of The Year award for Morning Phase — an album which has polarised critics and fans — but Beck appears to have forgiven the rapper for his bum-rush antics.

At first, Kanye’s short-lived stage appearance during Beck’s acceptance speech appeared to be just a little bit of fun, cheekily referencing Ye’s 2009 VMAs incident in which he snatched Taylor Swift’s award for Best Female Video and ranted about why Beyoncé deserved it more.

Then things became a little clearer, with Kanye later suggesting that Beck “needs to respect artistry” and “should have given his award to Beyoncé” if The Grammys want “real artists” to come back to the event. Kanye also said he didn’t snatch Beck’s award so as to protect his daughter North West, if that makes any sense.

“At this point, we tired of it!” Kanye said. “Because what happens is, when you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration.” Hear Kanye’s comments in full, below.

Thankfully, Beck has handled the whole thing like an absolute champ. During the Universal Music Group Grammys after-party, he told US Weekly that Kanye’s stage rush actually got him a little excited. “I was just so excited he was coming up,” Beck said. “[Kanye] deserves to be onstage as much as anybody. How many great records has he put out in the last five years, right?”

Beck humbly admitted that he thought Beyoncé’s self-titled album was going to claim Album Of The Year, and that he’s still a Kanye fan no matter what.

“I thought [Beyoncé] was going to win. Come on, she’s Beyonce!… You can’t please everybody, man. I still love [Kanye] and think he’s genius. I aspire to do what he does.”

Kanye has clarified his comments since the Grammy Awards ceremony, telling TMZ (below) in New York, “No I wasn’t saying Beck [needs to respect artistry] I said The Grammys… Beck knows that Beyoncé should’ve won… C’mon, man, I love Beck… But he ain’t have the album of the year.”

Meanwhile, Kiss frontman Paul Stanley says he wouldn’t have been so forgiving. “Beck should’ve kicked Kanye right in the nuts and said, ‘Get the f— of MY stage!’,” the Starchild posted to Facebook a short while ago.

What remains clear, at least, is that Beck still loves Kanye, and Kanye still loves Beyoncé.

Catch all the winners and losers from the 2015 Grammy Awards right here.