Kanye West tells Piers Morgan he's sorry for 'hurt' caused by his anti-Semitic tweets

Content warning – contains offensive language

Kanye West has apologised for his anti-Semitic tweets during a two-hour interview with Piers Morgan in which he initially claimed he was "absolutely not" sorry.

He eventually addressed the people he had offended, saying "I really want to give you guys a big hug".

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The rapper, 45, was suspended from Twitter last week after posting: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.

“The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”

In an appearance on Uncensored with Piers Morgan that aired on TalkTV on Wednesday night, Morgan repeatedly tried to hold West to account over the comments, which he refused to apologise for to begin with.

Morgan asked him: "Are you now sorry you said 'Defcon 3 on Jewish people'?", but West replied: "No."

The broadcaster then pressed him: "Are you now sorry you said that?"

But West said: "Absolutely not... absolutely not."

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In the long interview, which included many interruptions by West, Morgan told him that his comments were “as racist as anything you’ve been through” and added “racism is racism”.

West replied: “Yeah, obviously, that’s why I said it. I fought fire with fire. I’m not here to get hosed down.”

After a lot of arguing back and forth about whose turn it was to speak and who should be asking the questions, in which West also told Morgan "You're being a Karen", the rapper eventually did a U-turn and apologised for his anti-Semitic comments.

He said: "I will say I'm sorry for the people I hurt, the confusion...I feel like I caused hurt and confusion, and I'm sorry for the families of the people who had nothing to do with the trauma that I have been through."

Morgan said: "It's an uncensored interview, you said something which you now wish you hadn't said and you've apologised. I actually think that says a lot about you. It shows you've got that ability to be self-aware, to know when you've crossed a line.

"Someone like you, with all your energy and creativity and passion, you're going to say stuff. The way you talk in such an extraordinary manner, you're going to trip up. I don't think there's anything wrong with it if when you do that, you do what you just did. You say I'm sorry, I crossed a line, I apologise."

West added: "I want to say that it's wrong to hold an apology hostage and I gotta let go of that, free myself of the trauma and give it all up to God right now and say to those families that I hurt, I really want to give you guys a big hug and I want to say I'm sorry for hurting you with my comments.

"And I want to word it in not a political way but in a presidential way, which means what I knew a president to be when I was growing up."

The interview also saw West, thought to be worth $6.6bn (nearly £59m) mock Morgan over his own bank balance.

As Morgan tried to give advice to West on apologising, West asked: "What are you worth?"

Morgan replied: "Not as much as you, sadly."

West said: "Exactly, so take my advice, maybe you'll get richer."

Watch: Kanye West calls Piers Morgan 'Karen' in interview about ani-Semitic comments