Toby Keith Likens Kanye West Debacle to an Assault

It's been the No. 1 topic of conversation this week, so when we sat down to talk to Toby Keith on Thursday, the subject of the Kanye West /Taylor Swift debacle at MTV's Video Music Awards came up. And, naturally, the outspoken entertainer had plenty to say.

"I'd have walked over to her and asked her where her daddy was," Toby tells The Boot. "She's just a little girl. I think [Kanye] knows he messed up ... It's real easy when you're down like that to kick."

Toby's own experiences with controversy have perhaps made him a little more understanding of what both parties are going through. So it's hardly a surprise that, like many people, he wishes everyone would just move on.

"In the middle of all the controversy I got into with the [Dixie] Chicks back then, it was real easy for one of us to get kicked and everybody to say their two cents," Toby recalls. "He made a mistake, he knows it, he apologized for it, and he's got to deal with it. That's enough for me.

"But," the singer continues, "aside from the celebrity part of it, there's a young lady there that's with her mother. I don't know if her dad was there or not, but probably should have been -- but I will guarantee you, it doesn't matter if you're a celebrity or not, if my daughter gets accosted in any way ... it would have been different if the guy would have had a relationship with [Taylor] and knew her and been able to have fun and burst on the stage and it would have been fun, but to go in and mess with a teenage girl who is very naive and having her moment in the sun, to me it's invading, and it's ... it's almost [like] he assaulted her. He invaded her space."

Toby reasons the situation would have been quite different if another celebrity had been on stage accepting an award. "You think he would have done that if Snoop [Dogg] would have been up there?," he says. "Or Kid Rock? You think he would have run up there? You think if there had been a male figure up there accepting the award that he didn't know and had never met, you think he would jump up there and do that? You think if Trace Adkins was up there, he would have run up there and do that? But, this is a bunch of celebrity bulls--- [which is] why this blew up. I'm talking about the bare, primal, humanity ... I'm talking about, you're in a mall, you have your daughter with you, and somebody comes up and does the same thing for a different reason. You know what I mean? You're going to get your ass whipped."

After all is said and done, however, Toby says, "It doesn't have anything to do with that celebrity stuff ... it's easy for guys to come out of the closet and kick somebody when they're down. I'm not that guy."

Look for The Boot's exclusive interview with Toby Keith on Oct. 6, the same day he releases his new album, 'American Ride.'