Michael Che says Kanye West apologized for SNL rant, recounts backstage moment
Che details a 2018 backstage confrontation with the rapper during SNL, and a later, brief exchange in 2019, amid new disclosures about West's life in a forthcoming documentary.
Michael Che says Kanye West apologized for his 2018 Saturday Night Live rant, recounting a tense backstage moment that has since become part of the broader public narrative surrounding the rapper. Che spoke on SiriusXM’s The Bonfire about West’s closing-credits tirade from the 2018 episode, during which West wearing a Make America Great Again hat railed against liberal media and suggested Black comedians were unfair in their jokes about Bill Cosby. Che said the confrontation extended beyond the moment on air, with West alleging that cast and crew had bullied him backstage.
Che recalled that the backstage dynamics were unsettled in the wake of West’s remarks, and he questioned what had caused West to feel bullied. The anecdote is part of the unauthorized Ye documentary In Whose Name?, which includes scenes from the period and a broader look at the artist’s life in recent years.
About a year later, Che and West crossed paths again when Eddie Murphy hosted SNL in 2019. Che said that moment drew a large crowd of people in Hollywood and that West surfaced from the elevator bay and offered an apology. Che noted that they spoke briefly and he didn’t revisit the subject afterward. Earlier in the encounter, Che had sensed something was off with West, who did not seem like his usual self, even though he had been a frequent guest at the show.
"What you got against us?" Che recalled asking West during the 2018 encounter, and he described the 2019 exchange as a brief, cordial moment in a much larger dynamic surrounding West’s career at the time.
In Whose Name?, directed by first-time filmmaker Nico Ballesteros, the documentary follows West across six years and roughly 3,000 hours of footage, with the final cut at 106 minutes. Filming began in 2018 and concluded in 2024, and much of the work was shot on iPhones. The project provides an inside look at West’s life as he faced a period of upheaval, including his bipolar disorder, the dissolution of his marriage to Kim Kardashian, and the fallout from his antisemitic remarks in 2022.
The film also depicts a tense exchange with Kris Jenner, West’s former mother-in-law, during which Jenner challenged him on medication. West has said he felt demasculated and contested the level of treatment he was receiving; Jenner pushed back, telling him the family cared about him and that medication mattered to them as well. The documentary captures the emotional intensity of those moments, as West insisted that he would rather be dead than be medicated, to which Jenner replied that medications do matter to them and that she loved him and wanted his daughter to know him as well.
The New York Post notes that the interview and the film’s footage come as West remains a focal point of public fascination and controversy surrounding his behavior and comments in recent years. The Post reached out to West’s representatives for comment as the project gained attention for its intimate, six-year scope.
In Whose Name? offers a window into West’s life during a tumultuous stretch, with the filmmaker documenting the artist’s struggles and public missteps while endeavoring to present a nuanced portrait of a musician whose influence spans music, fashion, and popular culture. The film’s release adds new texture to the ongoing conversation about how West’s personal challenges intersect with his artistic output and public persona.
The broader context of Che’s reflections centers on a performer whose career has repeatedly intersected with controversy and high-profile collaborations, including West’s later collaboration with public figures and celebrities who have publicly weighed in on his statements. The documentary’s focus on medical and familial dynamics underscores how West’s personal life has shaped, and been shaped by, his public episodes.
As the film world continues to piece together the years that led to West’s 2022 antisemitic remarks and the subsequent conversations within his inner circle, Che’s account provides a firsthand glimpse into a moment when two men in the entertainment industry navigated questions of accountability, loyalty, and the price of candid public dialogue. The documentary’s producers emphasize that the footage spans a period of significant change for West, both personally and professionally, and seeks to illuminate how those changes have reverberated through his creative work and public reception.
