Kanye West has privately apologised to Michael Che, the Weekend Update co-anchor says — and Che recalls the words exactly, 'I owe you an apology'.
Che revealed the encounter during an appearance on SiriusXM's The Bonfire, saying the apology came years after a heated backstage confrontation following Kanye's 29 September 2018 Saturday Night Live appearance.
That original SNL moment — the rapper wearing a MAGA hat and delivering an unscripted political speech at the end of the show — was captured in contemporaneous footage and has been widely discussed since.
The exchange resurfaced after scenes from the new documentary In Whose Name? were released, and Che's account now provides the clearest public description of how the pair quietly put the incident behind them.
What Michael Che Said
On SiriusXM's The Bonfire, Che told hosts he and Kanye crossed paths at an SNL taping months after the 2018 incident.
'I was walking through the hallway and he's coming out of the elevator bay and as soon as he sees me, he goes, "I owe you an apology"', Che said, adding that their exchange was brief and that he never raised the matter again.
Che's remarks are significant because they come from the person shown confronting Kanye in archival footage from the 2018 show, a confrontation that, until now, had largely been seen but not publicly unpacked by the participants themselves.
The Bonfire segment is the primary record of Che's account; viewers searching for the interview can find the full segment on SiriusXM's The Bonfire feed and associated uploads.
The SNL Confrontation in Context
The episode in question, the Season 44 premiere of Saturday Night Live, featured Adam Driver as host and Kanye West as musical guest. During the show's closing moments, Kanye remained on stage to deliver a lengthy, impromptu speech in which he defended US President Donald Trump and criticised the 'liberal media'. The moment left cast and crew visibly uncomfortable.
Backstage footage is now shown in In Whose Name? which documents the immediate fallout: a visibly upset Michael Che walks up to Kanye to demand an explanation. Che's on-camera rebuke, 'We treat everyone that comes in like family, and you're gonna sell us out?' crystallised why the cast felt betrayed and why the incident lingered in the SNL community.
The documentary condenses years of intimate footage and places that exchange in a broader portrait of Kanye's political realignments and personal turmoil.
Why the Apology Matters
An off-camera apology, however short, changes the public calculus. It suggests that, at least privately, Kanye recognised the hurt his words caused colleagues who had treated him as a peer and guest. For Che, the apology appears to have been sufficient to draw a line under a fraught episode; for observers, the exchange raises questions about celebrity, responsibility, and accountability in the media age.
In Whose Name? has renewed scrutiny of a period when Kanye's public statements, erratic behaviour, and political gestures alarmed collaborators and fans. The film's director and those close to the footage argue it offers a rare, unmediated window into how a star's private life and public pronouncements collide and how moments that once seemed theatrical can have lasting personal consequences.
Kanye's private apology to Michael Che is a reminder that public spectacle and private amends can, sometimes, travel very different routes.
