At this point, someone in the control booth apparently remembered to hit the "applause" button, because the audience had basically been taking it all in silently for a while.
"There was a time Michael Jackson couldn't get his video on MTV because he was considered to be 'urban.' The Michael Jackson," West said. "So I literally have to be the Michael Jackson of apparel in order to break down the doors for everyone who will come after I'm gone, after I'm dead. After they call me Wacko Kanye. Isn't that so funny, that people point fingers at the people who have influenced us the most?"
At this point, DeGeneres was — as she had been for an eternity in talk-show time — sitting motionless except for blinking and occasionally wetting her lips as if to speak. But there had been no room to speak.
"I'm sorry, daytime television," West said to the audience. "I'm sorry for the realness."
Cue applause. Time to go to commercial.