Kanye West nearly performed at the VMAs this weekend

This Sunday’s MTV VMAs ceremony wasn’t without its usual share of surprise moments, from the Nicki Minaj vs. Miley Cyrus outburst, to the burying of hatchets between Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift. Notably lacking in Minaj’s input, though was Kanye West’s 10-minute acceptance speech for his Video Vanguard Award - a speech which it now transpires was a last-minute decision.

MTV executive Van Toffler has revealed in an interview with Billboard that Kanye was originally planning to perform a two-song medley as part of his acceptance. Apparently he to-ed and fro-ed between planning to perform and planning to just talk several times, before opting to embark on his speech - a fact which ended up surprising both MTV producers and Kanye’s own camp.

“We had to be prepared for both, so we had a track cued up,” said Toffler. “We decided to be open to whatever Kanye wanted because he’s given us so many moments—unexpected ones.”

The news comes following a video which suggests Kanye’s announcement that he was running for president in 2020 was equally spontaneous - check out a video of a crowd member offering up the suggestion to Kanye below, right before the man himself announced his (possibly tongue-in-cheek) political intentions.