(AP) -- Kanye West has told Jay Leno that he's going to take some time off for reflection after ruining Taylor Swift's night at the MTV Video Music Awards.

West said Monday that he knew he was wrong as soon as he handed the microphone back to Swift. He had interrupted Swift on Sunday night as she accepted a best female video award to argue that Beyonce was more deserving.

West told Leno: "It was rude, period."

The rap star had already apologized twice to Swift on his blog and said he wants to apologize in person. He says he wants to take time off and analyze "how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life."

He had already been set to perform on Leno's first primetime show on NBC but asked for time to talk with the controversy swirling.

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