President Barack Obama called Kanye West a jackass for what he did to country singer Taylor Swift at the VMA awards on Sunday.

Obama added he felt that what West did to Swift was really inappropriate. The rapper abruptly interrupted Swift when she was awarded the Best Female Video, and snatched her microphone and said Beyonce has one of the best videos of the year.

The audiotape of Obama's comments was obtained and published by TMZ.com Tuesday.

Listen to the audiotape here.

The popular celebrity blogging site said the audio was recorded just before Obama went on camera to do an interview with CNBC on Monday. CNBC did not report on the President's comments because they were considered off the record.

However, ABC News employees heard the comments and spread them on Tweeter. ABC overheard the conversation as the two networks share the same fiber optic line although they are competitors.

ABC later deleted the reports and apologized to the White House and CNBC, the Associated Press reported.

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