Kanye West’s “VH1 Storytellers” Won’t Air Rapper’s Radiohead Diss, Chris Brown Support

If the material edited out of Kanye West’s VH1 Storytellers is any indication, what the rapper has to say promises to be just as entertaining as the performances themselves. Reuters reports that West spent three hours on a Los Angeles soundstage for the performance, which aired Saturday, February 28th, with only 90 minutes of it making it to television. Left on the cutting room floor is West railing against Radiohead, one of his favorite bands, and telling the audience that everyone should give Chris Brown “a break.”

According to Reuters, the VH1 Storytellers filming came five days after West was supposedly snubbed backstage at the Grammys by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. West has constantly declared his love of Radiohead and especially Yorke’s solo album The Eraser. “I don’t listen to rap in my apartment, I listen to Thom Yorke,” Yeezy posted in November 2008. But the snub perturbed the 808s rapper. “So when he performed at the Grammys, I sat the fuck down,” West said of the band’s “15 Step” with the USC Marching Band at the Grammy ceremony. However, two days before Storytellers took place, Kanye posted on his blog “Oooooh Mr. Yorke… You Are Very Much The End All Be All… Amazing” and embedded a video of Radiohead’s “15 Step” from the Grammys.

As for his comments on Brown, West reportedly told the crowd, “Can’t we give Chris a break? I know I make mistakes in life.” To West’s credit, that comment to the Storytellers crowd came out before there were more damning details regarding the incident between Rihanna and Brown, and well before the photo of a battered Rihanna leaked out. Thus, that comment was edited out before the telecast. But West’s support of Michael Jackson and Michael Phelps, as well as a strange observation about O.J. Simpson. (”What he did, when he did, what he did. Was he not amazing though?”)

Getting to the music, West performed a 14-song set of his greatest hits and 808s & Heartbreak tracks including “Stronger,” “Touch the Sky” and “Amazing.”

Thom Yorke of Radiohead gave Kanye Cheddar the cold shoulder backstage...