Swift reaction at MTV Video Music Awards

September 15, 2009 Entertainment No Comments

Was it Kanye being Kanye, or was his outburst something more?
Singer Kanye West takes the microphone from singer Taylor Swift as she accepts the "Best Female Video" award during the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009 in New York.

At least the shocker this year was related to music.

The MTV Video Music Awards are always willfully chaotic, keeping alive the myth of pop as the provenance of rebels by placing a bunch of moderately edgy celebrities within a festive environment and fueling the mood with sexy performances, off-color jokes and “incidents” that are often staged, but good for a thousand Twitter tweets. One of these mostly bogus controversies usually goes a bit deeper, hinting at real issues of identity, status, personal power and self-expression — the sticky stuff from which pop music is, in fact, made.

When Kanye West jumped up during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for best female video Sunday night, put his hand over her microphone and declared that Beyoncé’s losing “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” clip was “one of the best videos of all time,” he did a stupid thing. He seemed like a bully inexplicably targeting an honors student, and he further damaged his rather unstable reputation without managing to make his point clear.
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