Kanye West's controversial speech sparks high emotions

Kanye West is known for his controversial views, which often draw strong backlash.

But his speech at Saturday Night Live in 2018, when he performed and went off-script, shocked the show's co-host Michael Che, who confronted him backstage.

It is documented in Ye's new documentary, In Whose Name? which sees him delivering a pro-Trump rant while wearing a MAGA, or Make America Great Again, hat.

Now 48, at the time, said, "You can't be controlled by monolithic thoughts. You can't always have, every time you have a Black subject matter like [Bill] Cosby that you have to have a Black comedian talking about him."

After saying this, Ye points to Michael, saying, "You know what I mean?" Then he continued, "They bullied me backstage. They bullied me, and then they say I'm in a sunken place. You wanna see the sunken place? I'mma listen to y'all now. I'm gonna put my Superman cape on."

The 42-year-old then approached the Grammy winner backstage, as it shows in the documentary.

"You good with me? For real? That was ***** up," the comedian said to the father-of-four.

Kanye, in return, denied he was referring to him; instead, he claimed the "Black comedian" joke was a reference to Leslie Jones.

"I'm the Black comedian that made a joke about Cosby," Michael countered. "That's ******* up. Why'd you do that to me?"

On this, the Power hitmaker told him he "loved him". The SNL host replied, "I love you, too. I'm a fan. Why would you do that to me?" Ye responded, "I wasn't doing it to you."

The documentary ultimately shows a third-party intervention to de-escalate the situation.

In Whose Name is out, though it has a limited release.