Tattle: Kanye apologizes to Taylor Swift - finally

Kanye West finally offered a personal apology to Taylor Swift yesterday - two days after he interrupted the country star's best-female-video acceptance speech during the MTV Video Music Awards to sing nominee Beyonce's praises.

Surely his momma taught him better than that.

Monday night, in fact, West was uncharacteristically silent for about 20 seconds (a TV eternity) during an appearance on "The Jay Leno Show" after Leno asked him what his late mother, Donda West, would have thought about his behavior.

Though he seemed contrite, the hip-hop star blamed his bad behavior mostly on overwork.

"It was rude, period," West said. " . . . I need to, after this, take some time off and just analyze how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life, how I'm going to improve."

He didn't call Swift until after she revealed on "The View" yesterday that she hadn't heard from him. He'd posted apologies online, but really, does that count?

A presidential pardon (me)

Speaking, no doubt, for most of his fellow Americans, President Obama called West a "jackass" for his behavior. The president's off-the-record remarks just before a Monday interview at CNBC were posted on Twitter by ABC News' Terry Moran, though he later removed the comments.

Speaking of West's VMA outburst, the president said, "I thought that was really inappropriate," adding, "He's a jackass."

Obama, who stopped in our town yesterday for an Arlen Specter fundraiser, may be sorry he was so frank; Moran may be sorry for his slipup. Can we just stipulate apologies all around and move on? But not before . . .

50's two cents' worth

West has a history of acting out at awards shows, but should 50 Cent win something, West better zip his lip.

The rapper blasted West in an interview with MuchMusic, saying, "I wish he would come take one of my awards so I can black his eye in front of everybody."

New heartache for Jessica

When we saw the first part of the headline on NYDailyNews.com - "Jessica Simpson's 'heart is broken' after coyote takes away . . . " - we thought some old broad had made a move on John Mayer.

The musician is Simpson's former and apparently still occasional love interest as she recovers from her breakup with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

But no, this coyote was the real deal. It snatched Simpson's adorable little Malti-poo, Daisy, right in front of her horrified owner in their Los Angeles neighborhood. Daisy was a gift from Simpson's ex-husband, Nick Lachey.

Swayze remembered

Former colleagues and co-stars shared their thoughts and remembrances of actor/dancer Patrick Swayze, who died Monday of pancreatic cancer at age 57.

Demi Moore, his co-star in 1990's Oscar-winning hit "Ghost," issued a statement: "In the words of Sam to Molly, 'It's amazing, Molly. The love inside, you take it with you.' I will miss you."

_ Keanu Reeves, his co-star in the macho crime film "Point Break," told People.com: "There was some skydiving sequences in this film we did together and . . . Patrick was jumping out of airplanes all the time. . . . so the production served him with a cease and desist, which he listened to until they got to Hawaii."

"He was a beautiful person, an artist," Reeves added. "He lived life to the fullest."

E-mail gensleh@phillynews.com

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.