Aaron Nava is a second-year philosophy student who says Kanye West’s arrogant behaviour stems from the same self-confidence that makes his music so good ( Photo Provided )

When U.S. President Barack Obama called Kanye West a “jackass” for his behaviour at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, people joked he had finally made the kind of bipartisan, unifying statement he had been trying to make since taking office.

It seemed the verdict was in: when West jumped onstage and took the mic from Taylor Swift, who had just won Best Female Video, to announce that Beyoncé had one of the 
best videos of all time, he was wrong.

This was Swift’s moment — her first moonman! — and West had stolen her thunder.

This was the most recent in a string of similarly ill-received incidents from the man: during a live telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005, West deviated off-script to say “George Bush doesn’t care about black people;” he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2006 wearing a crown of thorns, likening himself to Jesus Christ; he even made a previous uninvited appearance onstage at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, claiming his single, “Touch the Sky,” deserved to win Best Video.

But after what West did to Swift, people seem to have begun turning their backs on him. While I see the reasoning behind this, I don’t think it’s fair.

What West did was wrong, I agree, and it wasn’t the first time he’s done something rude in public. But you know who else thought it was wrong? Kanye West.

He apologized to Swift over the phone, and she said she felt it was sincere; and he apologized in public three times, almost coming to tears when asked by Jay Leno what his mother would think.

It’s hard to determine authenticity in this world, but West’s words never had a prepared, lawyer-vetted quality so often heard from celebrities. At any rate, it’s not really fair to judge someone’s authenticity based on a two-minute apology, so I would give him the benefit of the doubt.

Some people say West interrupted Swift as a stunt for attention. But who would think stealing someone’s thunder would make a smart career move? He’s had enough of a backlash to know it turned out terribly. And considering this incident fits his latest line of behaviour, it was probably not premeditated.

I’m not here to defend his outbursts, but I’ve come to understand that if you accept Kanye West as an artist, you have to accept that his emotion-driven exploits are the reason he’s here in the first place. He worked very hard to get where he is because he’s passionate, driven, and he has a deep, almost-unshakeable faith in himself.

West is a multi-talented artist who finds strength in honesty and authenticity. If his music had been released solely underground and had never brought him any celebrity, he still would have been a major musical force and would have found a legion of fans because, well, his material is good.

He works very hard to produce great music — and when he does, he says so.

West is not afraid to do what he feels even if people judge him. He wears flamboyant clothes in the face of those who say he’s “dressing gay.”  When he makes one of his famous all-caps blog posts, it’s fitting not because the subject is particularly enraging (in his response to the South Park parody of himself, for example, he admitted it was funny and accepted that he had to change) but because he breathes in caps lock.

Kanye West is a man who lives big, and nothing about him would stand out as much if he didn’t.

West’s latest outburst certainly warrants offence. But people should not treat this incident as a last straw.

If it weren’t for the self-assurance that makes these outbursts happen, we wouldn’t know who Kanye West is, and his music wouldn’t be as good.

So the next time you hear one of his songs in a club, listen to it with an open ear. It’s why you cared from the start.