HOLLYWOOD DIRT OVERFLOW (9-14-09)

THE MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS
KANYE WEST WAS A JERK AT ANOTHER AWARD SHOW:
The MTV Video Music Awards went down last night. And KANYE WEST did NOT let the opportunity to make an ass of himself at another award show pass him by.

The first VMA went to TAYLOR SWIFT for Best Female Video. BEYONCE'S "Single Ladies" was one of the nominees. --Taylor was STUNNED, but pretty psyched. She said, quote, "I always wondered what it would be like to maybe win one of these someday, but never actually thought it would happen."

And then, as if on cue, Kanye jumped onstage and took the microphone from her. --He said, quote, "Taylor, I'm really happy for you, and I'm gonna let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time."

The crowed booed Kanye as he handed the microphone back to Taylor. At that point, she was pretty much speechless. She did eventually try to resume her speech, but the audio had already cut out so the show could go to a pre-recorded skit. (--Here's the video . . .) http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/435995/taylor-swift-wins-best-female-video.jhtml#id=1620605

Backstage, Kanye was asked to LEAVE the building . . . which he did. --Also backstage, Taylor and her mother were reportedly seen CRYING. (--Taylor was composed enough later in the show, however, to perform her winning song, "You Belong to Me".)

The crowed booed Kanye again later in the show, when DIDDY announced his name among nominees for Best Male Video. Kanye was already gone by then. --But it was Beyoncé who made things right at the end of the evening, when "Single Ladies" won Video of the Year.

Instead of giving her own speech, she talked about winning her first VMA as part of DESTINY'S CHILD. She said, quote, "I remember how excited I was. I'd like Taylor to come out and have her moment."

Taylor came out onstage and gave her speech.(--Here's video of Beyoncé's classy move . . .)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLhlbypk9Lw

Shortly after the VMAs ended, Kanye issued an apology for his idiocy. --He said, quote, "I'm sooooo sorry to Taylor Swift and her fans and her mom. I spoke to her mother right after and she said the same thing my mother would've said. --"She is very talented! I like the lyrics about being a cheerleader and she's in the bleachers! I'm in the wrong for going on stage and taking away from her moment!"

Then he went on to call "Single Ladies", quote, "the best video of this decade." --And he added, quote, "I gave my awards to Outkast when they deserved it over me . . . That's what it is!!!!!!! I'm not crazy y'all, I'm just real. Sorry for that!!! I really feel bad for Taylor and I'm sincerely sorry!!! Much respect!!!!!"


THE VMA'S STARTED OUT AS A TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL JACKSON:

Although the show UNFORTUNATELY became all about Kanye, it was all about MICHAEL JACKSON when it started. --First, MADONNA came out and delivered a spoken-word tribute. And she brow-beat us all for ABANDONING Michael when he needed us. But you have to give her props, because she included HERSELF in that.

She said that when he died, quote, "all I could think about him in that one moment was, 'I had abandoned him,' that we had abandoned him. That we had allowed this magnificent creature that once set the world on fire to somehow slip through the cracks. --"When he was trying to build a family and rebuild his career, we were all busy passing judgment. Most of us had turned our backs on him . . . Sometimes, we have to lose things before we can truly appreciate them."
(--Here's video of her speech . . .)http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/436439/madonna-pays-tribute-to-michael-jackson.jhtml

Then came the much-hyped JANET JACKSON tribute . . . which, I hate to say, was pretty underwhelming. --It was just a few minutes of dancers mimicking Michael's moves while his videos played on the screen behind them. --Then, the video for "Scream" . . . which was a duet between Michael and Janet . . . came on the screen. --That's when Janet came out and danced for a few minutes. And that was it. (???) (--You can watch it here . . .) http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=true&mediaKey=3d381467-6645-4f2d-b32e-edac85aaeace

--At the end of the VMAs, they also showed a preview of "This Is It!" . . . the Michael Jackson documentary that's coming to theaters next month. (--Check it out here . . .) http://www.mtv.com/videos/movie-trailers/435908/exclusive-michael-jacksons-this-is-it-trailer-premiere.jhtml#id=1621379

THE COMPLETE "VMA" WINNERS LIST:
--Video of the Year: BEYONCÉ, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"--Best Male Video: T.I. (featuring RIHANNA), "Live Your Life"
--Best Female Video: TAYLOR SWIFT, "You Belong with Me"--Best New Artist: LADY GAGA, "Poker Face" --Best Rock Video: GREEN DAY, "21 Guns" --Best Hip Hop Video: EMINEM, "We Made You" --Best Pop Video: BRITNEY SPEARS, "Womanizer"--Breakthrough Video: MATT AND KIM, "Lessons Learned"--Best Video (That Should Have Won a "Moonman" Award): BEASTIE BOYS, "Sabotage" --Best Art Direction: LADY GAGA, "Paparazzi"--Best Choreography: BEYONCÉ, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"--Best Cinematography: GREEN DAY, "21 Guns" --Best Direction: GREEN DAY, "21 Guns" --Best Editing: BEYONCÉ, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"--Best Special Effects: LADY GAGA, "Paparazzi" (--You're probably pretty sick of most of the winning videos by now, but if you would like to watch any of them, hit up MTV's "VMA" winners page . . .)http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2009/winners.jhtml


TOM BRADY ADMITS THAT GISELE BUNDCHEN IS PREGNANT:

It's not anything we didn't already know, but it's finally official: TOM BRADY admitted over the weekend that GISELE BUNDCHEN is pregnant . . . and expecting in December. --He told ESPN's Chris Berman, quote, "The women are the ones who have to do the work. We just have to be there to support them and so it'll be nice to do that."

This will be Tom's SECOND child. He also has a 2-year-old son with actress BRIDGET MOYNAHAN.


THE "TRANSFORMERS" CREW HATED WORKING WITH MEGAN FOX:

As everyone knows, MEGAN FOX talks a lot of crap. And over the summer, one of the people she talked crap about was her "Transformers" director, MICHAEL BAY. She even compared him to HITLER, and said he's a nightmare to work for.

Well, three anonymous crew members who've worked with Michael Bay for years posted a letter on Bay's website, tearing into Megan. Big time.--It's pretty long and involved, but this quote from the end of the letter sums it up pretty well . . . quote, "Megan really is a thankless, classless, graceless, and shall we say unfriendly (B-word). --"It's sad how fame can twist people, and even sadder that young girls look up to her. If only they knew who they're really looking up to."

Here's more . . . quote, "She's as about ungracious a person as you can ever fathom. She shows little interest in the crew members around her. We work to make her look good in every way, but she's absolutely never appreciative of anyone's hard work. --"Never a thank you. All the crewmembers have stopped saying hi to Ms. Princess because she never says hello back. It gets tiring. Many think she just really hates the process of being an actress."

The letter also gives props to Michael for being an awesome guy to work for . . . even though he can be demanding. And it also notes that he plucked Megan out of, quote, "total obscurity" and made her famous. (--You can read the whole thing here . . .)http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/transformers-crew-talk-back-to-megan-fox/

Michael Bay had nothing to do with this letter, by the way. And when he saw that it was on his website, he had it taken down.--Then he issued the following statement . . . quote, "I don't condone the crew letter to Megan. And I don't condone Megan's outlandish quotes. But her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm. --"The fact of the matter is I still love working with her, and I know we still get along. I even expect more crazy quotes from her on 'Transformers 3'."

THE MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE CONCERT HAS BEEN POSTPONED AND MOVED TO LONDON:

The MICHAEL JACKSON tribute concert that was supposed to go down September 26th in Vienna, Austria has been postponed until June of 2010 . . . and moved to London's Wembley Stadium. --What it came down to was LACK OF TALENT.

As you know, the show's organizers . . . including JERMAINE JACKSON . . . promised some A-list musicians like CHRIS BROWN and MARY J. BLIGE. --And pretty much everyone they announced quickly came out and said they were NOT going to be part of the show.

Promoter George Kindel said they had, quote, "underestimated" the problems they were going to have with scheduling conflicts. --Meanwhile, Jermaine posted a statement saying, quote, "Instead of eight weeks we now have eight months to prepare and some of the stars who would not have been able to participate in the Vienna concert, but expressed their wish to participate in this event, will be able to perform."


THE "MADDEN CURSE" HAS CLAIMED YET ANOTHER VICTIM . . . TROY POLAMALU OF THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS:

Have you ever heard of the "Madden curse?" It's the idea that whichever player is featured on the cover of JOHN MADDEN'S video game, "Madden NFL", will eventually suffer an injury and miss several games that season.

Anyway, whether you believe in it or not, you have to admit that over the past several years, the players featured on the cover of Madden's game have had some pretty bad luck.

--In 2002, DAUNTE CULPEPPER missed five games to injury
--In 2003, MARSHALL FAULK missed six games to injury
--In 2004, MICHAEL VICK missed 11 games to injury
--In 2005, RAY LEWIS missed one game to injury
--In 2006, DONOVAN MCNABB missed seven games to injury
--In 2007, SHAUN ALEXANDER missed six games to injury
--In 2008, VINCE YOUNG missed one game to injury and played pretty poorly all season
--In 2009, BRETT FAVRE didn't miss any games to injury, but the "will he / won't he" surrounding his retirement created a circus and probably didn't win him any new fans

And this year, there are two players featured on the cover of "Madden NFL" . . . Arizona Cardinals wide receiver LARRY FITZGERALD and Pittsburgh Steelers safety TROY POLAMALU. --Fitzgerald managed to make it through the first week unharmed. But in the NFL's opening game on Thursday night, Polamalu sprained his medial collateral ligament. He's expected to miss between three and six weeks. (Yahoo Video Games)