Kanye Calls Kim Kardashian His ‘Wife’ in Surprise BET Awards Appearance

Kanye West made a surprise appearance at the 2022 BET Awards, where he honored Sean “Diddy” Combs.

As the 45-year-old presented Diddy with his Lifetime Achievement Award, he also referenced his ex, Kim Kardashian, calling her his “wife.”

West took the stage in a mask and sunglasses, along with baseball cap and gloves, as he asked the audience, “How do we crown our kings? How do we appreciate our kings?” Watch the video!

He went on, “To think how far we could just make if off of inspiration, to hear the way somebody chopped a sample in. Me and [friends] rushin’ to see who could get the Bad Boy mixtape and play back the original version of ‘Benjamins,’ over and over, thinkin’ I was one of the Hit Men.”

West joked, “I was signed to Puff without him knowing,” adding, “That statement is not legally binding!”

Ye called said Combs was his “favorite artist” for “everything, not specifically production, the trip.” He explained, “Back then there was so many rules to hip hop and he broke all of them… [He] understood contracts in a way a lot of us still don’t. Understood money in a way a lot of us still don’t. I go to him for advice to this day.”

Referencing Kim, West continued, “He inspired so many of my choices. So many of my life choices. My wife choices. And here we are. Thanks for that, Puff.”

Kanye also talked about coming out of his “hiatus” to honor Diddy, saying, “You know, I took a little hiatus. I said. ‘I wanted to declare myself legally dead for a year. Nobody missing me.’ You know, I just want to be off the grid… Any of us in this room, if Puff ever need us, we need to jump and be there. This man has been through and survived a lot of stuff. Broke down a lot of doors so we could be standing. I know for me, that I could be here today.”

He followed up with, “You might know him as Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs. But when it’s hitting a certain point, I thought at the end of it, all is love — all of it. All we have is love. In Jesus’ name, bring out Love.”

Diddy went on to give a touching speech, and honored his late ex-girlfriend Kim Porter, who passed away in 2018. Watch the video here.

"I just miss Kim, y'all,” he said at one point, "Stay connected to God, and he'll bring you out. I just want to say thank you to Kim."

He thanked "everyone who played a part in my life,” saying his ex, Cassie, helped him through the "dark times."

Diddy also shared, "When I was a kid, I saw these images that were setting me up for failure, these images that were making me feel less than a dog. I was like, 'Man, I'm not with that. I'm not with that.' I closed my eyes and dreamed and saw what I had to do."

"We here for ourselves, we here for our ancestors, you feel me?" he said. "God gave me this message to give to you, and you, and you and you and the time is right now… I got this dream of Black people being free… I got this dream of us taking accountability and stop killing each other… Being rich and wealthy and living on the same block. I have this dream of us unifying… Our allies. If you're with us, don't be silent… I got that dream for us to be free, the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. We gotta unify."

Diddy is all about the love these days. The Bad Boy records founder recently told us about his new record label.