Kanye West has spoken out about the alleged domestic violence incident involving Chris Brown and Rihanna.

The rap star refers to Rihanna as his “baby sis” and says he’s “devastated” by reports that she was manhandled by the seemingly mild-mannered Chris.

In an interview with On-Air With Ryan Seacrest on Tuesday, Kanye has been friends with Rihanna for a long time and believes his Grammy performance of “American Boy” was affected because he was so emotionally moved by news that the 20-year-old “Umbrella” star had to cancel her appearance at the awards ceremony because of a fight with Chris.

“I feel like that’s my baby sis and I would do anything and everything to help her in any situation… I was completely devastated by the concept of what I heard,” Kanye told Ryan. “I was at the beginning of the ‘American Boy’ performance [with Estelle] when I really heard, when it kind of got cleared up, of what might have happened, and I was doing ‘American Boy’ and I was completely devastated during the performance.”

“Rihanna is so important to our culture … to pop music,” he continued. “I feel like she is the most important artist in music and has the most potential. Her taste level and her age … she has the potential to be the greatest artist of all time.”

He did not offer any comments during the interview on the investigation of R&B singer Chris Brown on suspicion of domestic violence, but did say that “It should never come to that place.”

Listen To Kanye’s Take On The Rihanna/Chris Brown Brawl Here