We've all nursed sore heads after a night on the sauce, but Kanye West will have been suffering the mother of all hangovers today after his adventures at yesterday's MTV Music Video Awards. Not only did he spend most of the evening swigging from a huge bottle of Hennessy cognac and posing with his otherworldly girlfriend Amber Rose, he got a little carried away during the awards show and was unceremoniously kicked out of Radio City Music Hall where the show was being held.
Three years ago, Kanye revealed an ego so big that it emits a beeping sound when he walks backward, by jumping onstage at the MTV Europe awards to protest losing out in the Best Video category. This time however, his outrage came in the form of misguided solidarity for the most famous ass in showbusiness, Beyonce Knowles.
As the winner of Best Female Video was announced, a shocked Taylor Swift took to the stage to claim her award and give her gushing acceptance speech. The 19 year-old country star, described by the New York Times as "one of pop's finest songwriters" never got past her first couple of lines though, since she was promptly joined on-stage by a well-lubricated Kayne, who took Taylor's microphone and decided to share his thoughts about the award.
In Kanye's 'humble' opinion, Beyonce deserved the award for Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) since it was, he felt, one of the best videos ever made. Taylor stood to the side, looking like she was going to cry or throw up, then calmly took back the microphone once Kanye was done. Sitting in the audience, Beyonce just looked like she wanted to put a ring on it, and slap him with it.
Thankfully, Beyonce showed extraordinary grace when accepting her own (well deserved) award for Best Video later in the evening, and invited Taylor back on stage to have a second stab at her 'thank you' speech. Taylor may have shed some teardrops on her guitar backstage, but she was smiling through her luminous veneers when called out by her 'hero' to belatedly enjoy her moment in the spotlight.
Other music stars, happy for once to be innocent bystanders, have all weighed in on the controversy, with Katy Perry, P!nk and Kelly Clarkson all voicing their disgust. Meanwhile, Kanye issued a punctuation-heavy statement on his blog today, saying "I will apologize to Taylor 2mrw. Welcome to the real world!!! Everybody wanna boo me but I'm a fan of real pop culture! No disrespect but we watchin' the show at the crib right now cause...well you know!!! I'm still happy for Taylor!!! Boooyaaawwww!!!! You are very very talented... I'm not crazy yall, I'm just real. Sorry for that! I really feel bad for Taylor and I'm sincerely sorry!!! Much respect!!!"
In fact, the only person willing to step in and defend Kanye, was returning host Russell Brand, himself no stranger to VMA controversy after slating George Bush and the Jonas Brothers last time. Maybe he was just relieved that someone else was taking the heat this time around.
Despite Kanye's objectionable behaviour and ill-judged attempt at hogging the limelight, you have to admit that he had a point about the 'Single Ladies' film clip. After all, only truly exceptional videos can work just as well when muted. Or redubbed with a hideous novelty record...
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