Kanye proves he’s ‘heartless’

The 19-year-old country singer accepted her VMA award for “Best Female Video” with kind words to her audience.

“I sing country music so thank you so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA award,” Swift said.

Stunning in her floor length, off the shoulder, silver and tan sequin gown, Taylor’s smile beamed … at least until Kanye West got up on stage with Taylor and awarded Beyonce the “best video of all time.”

“Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and I’m going let you finish, but Beyonce had one the best videos of all time,” said West.

The crowd not only cringed and filled the room with “boos,” but Beyonce looked just as mortified at what had happened. It seemed that students from Fairfield were just as shocked as everyone else as well.

“Kanye … I don’t know if he was drunk, but who would ever do that?” said Brian Loftus ’11.

Vinnie Mariani ’11 agreed. “I think it was nuts,” he said. “It was definitely not the best venue to go and do something like that. I think he tarnished his reputation pretty good.”

Later, when Jimmy Fallon and Andy Sandberg introduced Beyonce as the winner for “Best Music Video of the Year,” she stepped on stage and took the microphone to reflect back to her first VMA award.

“I remember being 17-years-old, up for my first MTV music video award with Destiny’s Child and it was one of the most exciting moments of my life, so I’d like for Taylor to come out and have her moment,” said Beyonce.

Taylor Swift, still dressed in her billowing red dress from her earlier performance, took the stage and said, “Maybe … maybe we could try this again?”

This was just one incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards that rocked the audience at home and set the stage for the rest of the show that night.

Anne Niewenhuis ’11 was just as shocked as the rest of the world when she saw what Kanye had said and done.

“It was inconsiderate towards Taylor Swift, that was her first VMA!” said Niewenhuis.

Host Russell Brand, attired in a tight navy suit with a white t-shirt underneath, took the stage after the “Kanye incident” to remind people why they were there.

“What we celebrate tonight is love, mutual love for everyone,” Brand said. “Total love, in memory of Michael Jackson.”

Madonna took the stage Sunday evening and began the show with a tribute to Michael Jackson. She spoke about when she was six her mother died, and when Michael was six, he became a star. “I never had a mother,” Madonna said, “But he never had a childhood.” Madonna spoke of Michael only wanting to be human, and as he was trying to live his life “we were all too busy passing judgment.”

After her long emotional speech, Madonna ended it with the words, “Long live the King,” and minutes later, Janet Jackson busted through the stage dancing the dances to songs such as “Thriller,” “Bad,” “Smooth Criminal,” and “Scream,” the songs once performed by her older brother.

Lady Gaga, who later that night won “Best New Artist” was dressed in white bikini-like bottoms with a one sleeved white shirt covered with lace and gold jewels. It was complimented by a white mask covering most of her face and was adorned with feather “horns” sticking out the top.  Gaga performed two of her best known hits, “Poker Face” and “Paparazzi” and ended up lying on the floor, playing piano with one foot up on the keys. Or most shocking yet, fake bleeding from her stomach.

Lady Gaga caused everyone Sunday night to shiver and shake a bit in their seats. With her dark eye makeup, Gaga started to bleed from her stomach near the end of her performance and continued to smear it on her face. She ended her performance by grabbing a pole that extended from the ceiling and lifted her up towards the sky, all the while hanging there lifelessly.

“Oh My God …” said Michelle Onofrio ’11 when asked what she thought about Lady Gaga’s performance.

“I think she’s creative, different and talented, but that was a little extreme and a bit disturbing. It was artistically brilliant though,” said Onofrio.

“Lady Gaga, that kind of scared me a little,” said Mariani.

Loftus, however, seemed to disagree.

“I think it’s really cool actually. It brings something bizarre to the table. Everyone gets to be like, ‘Hey, look at the crazy girl on T.V.,'” said Loftus.

Besides Lady Gaga, Pink performed her song “Sober” while hanging high in the air by a man and trapeze cables.  As she flipped and jumped, the crowd roared like they did when Beyonce had the crowd clapping and singing along to her performance of “Sweet Dreams” and “Single Ladies.”  Muse performed their song “Uprising” at the Walter Krieg Theater and Green Day, who also performed at the Radio City Music Hall, sang their song, “East Jesus Nowhere” alongside fans.

Among other winners at the VMA’s were Green Day for “Best Rock Video,” Britney Spears for “Best Pop Video,” T.I for “Best Male Video,” and Eminem for “Best Hip Hop Video.”
To end the night, the new movie about Michael Jackson called “Michael Jackson: This Is It” was shown to the audience.  This movie is compiled of never before seen footage of Jackson and those who loved him. “This Is It” appears in the theaters everywhere on Oct. 2.