Kanye West to the Today Show: Kiss Off!

Kanye West says there's NO WAY he's returning to the Today show later this month, as he was scheduled to do, after his testy interview with Matt Lauer this week.

A few hours ago, he Tweeted: "I'm not performing on the Today Show for obvious reasons. I'm so happy the world got to see just a small piece of 'the set up.'"

In this week's interview, Kanye's infamous criticism of George W. Bush was rehashed by Lauer, but what ticked the rapper off was video clips aired by Today.

There was no love lost on the Today set this week.

Kanye grew increasingly agitated when the show aired footage of W.'s pained reaction to West's post-Katrina remarks and later of the Taylor Swift VMA incident.

At the end of that interview, Lauer said he still expected Kanye to do their show on Black Friday, as scheduled, but a rep confirms that Kanye's officially out.

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Matt Lauer Denies Cheating Allegations; Alexis Houston Rumored as Sexy Beast's Mistress

Matt Lauer and his wife are shooting down reports of a split amid his cheating ways - with Alexis Houston, who claims to be Whitney's half-sister, the other woman!

Allegedly the other woman, and allegedly Whitney Houston's half-sister. Both parts of this story are suspect, to say the least. Especially after Whitney's rep said:

"Alexis Houston has no relation to Whitney in any way, shape or form."

Whitney's relative or not, Matt Lauer met Alexis Houston several years ago when she accompanied Whitney's real-life relative Dionne Warwick to the morning show.

According to Hollyscoop, Lauer reached out to Alexis as recently as the 2010 Olympics, saying she was apparently at the sporting event to sing in Whitney's stead.

Or not. "Whitney was never scheduled to perform at the Olympics," her rep said. Okay, great ... so is there any truth to this sordid Matt Lauer affair or what?

Was Matt Lauer cheating on his wife with Alexis Houston?

As for Alexis, her rep has denied the Lauer affair, saying: "Ms. Houston has never had any sort of relationship with Mr. Lauer and does not even recall meeting him."

Basically, Matt Lauer's had marital problems. But he's no David Boreanaz. Or Tiger Woods. Or Jesse James. You get the idea. In a statement, the Today host said:

"I am living in my apartment with Annette and my children as a family and a couple. I have never moved out. I am not moving out. There is no truth to that."

"Have we had a completely perfect, easy marriage? No," Lauer says.

"But the stories you read over the years are not true. I don't think we're any different than any married couple that's been together for 12 years. These accusations are ridiculous and I'm not going to [dignify] them with an answer. It's not true."

He calls the cheating allegations "ridiculous" and "offensive."

Interesting. Makes you wonder if there's a grain of truth in this somewhere. Added Annette Roque Lauer: "Out of self respect, I want to stand up for our family.

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