President Barack Obama yesterday labelled Kanye West a "jackass" after the rapper's outburst at the MTV awards.

Obama, normally disciplined about what he says, called West a "jackass" during an off-the-record portion of a television interview with CNBC. A rival ABC reporter, Terry Moran, picked it up and sent it out as a tweet last night: "Pres Obama just called Kanye West a 'jackass' for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT'S presidential."

Although it was quickly removed, either when Moran realised it was off-the-record or the White House complained, the comment had already been picked up and sent around the world.

During the Video Music Awards on Sunday, West dashed on stage while the country singer Taylor Swift was accepting an award for best female video. Snatching the microphone from her, he said Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.

ABC, commenting on Moran's tweet, apologised to the White House for making public a comment that was off-the-record. "In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview," the statement said.

"This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologise to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again."

On the Jay Leno show , West said he intended to apologise to Swift in person.

The White House has yet to comment. It is unlikely to be too perturbed, as Obama's comment appears to be basically in line with the public mood about West's outburst.