"Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels shed light on Kanye West's recent backstage outburst, saying it occurred during a private moment with his team.

ADVERTISEMENT
Speaking with E! News while arriving at the premier for Tina Fey's film "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," Michaels minimized the incident to focus on the way the rapper has always come through for the show.

"That happened in his dressing room," the TV producer and comedian said of a recording of West expressing his frustration over last-minute changes to the stage for his performance.

"Kanye's been on the show a lot of years, and it's always different. He's an artist, you know? A great artist."

Last month Kanye was secretly recorded yelling about his level of influence, at one point calling Taylor Swift "fake."

He also repeated the words "Don't [expletive] with me," several times before continuing his rant.

Michaels, however, focused on the positive, saying, "When he did the 40th anniversary show--which I wanted him to be part of it--I had no idea what he was going to do, even 10 minutes before we went on the air. He arrived that day."

"But he just always delivers, and he's Kanye," he added.

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!
Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!
Soon after his recorded rant, West continued on with his show, performing his songs "Ultralight Beam," "Low Lights," and "Highlights" in front of the audience.