Kanye and T-Swift: What's with all the fuss?

If you haven't turned on a TV, surfed the web or listened to a radio since Sunday then you've missed some groundbreaking pop culture news. (And no, I'm not talking about the death of Patrick Swayze.) Rap icon Kanye West in his infinite tactfulness interrupted Taylor Swift's MTV Video Music Award acceptance speech for her win of Best Female Video because in Kanye's opinion, Beyonce made one of the best videos ever for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." And we later found out that even though "Single Ladies" didn't win Best Female Video, it did win Best Video of the Year, which of course makes SO much sense. But hey, when does MTV make much sense?

But here's the deal:

None of it matters.

It would have been one thing if Kanye had toted a Glock on stage and fired it a few times in the air to prove his point. Or if the ghost of Michael Jackson had floated from the clouds to protest Swift's win. Or even if Chris Brown had replaced Kanye in the scenario and punched T-Swift before taking the mic. But none of that happened. Instead an egomaniac that does publicity stunts like this once every month or so just waltzed onto the stage and made his opinion heard. Big deal.

Now I understand that it probably crushed Taylor's spirit, but let's look at the sitch from a cynic's perspective for a brief moment. There are really three reasons that this whole ordeal is not worth any one's, let alone my precious time.

1) Taylor Swift should have prayed she didn't even win the Best Female Video VMA. The list of past winners is like a walk down crappy memory lane save for three or so of the victors.

Cyndi Lauper, Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Annie Lennox, KD Lang and Suzanne Vega?

Let's see, two 80's mall pop princesses, one who has a bad drinking problem and can barely speak intelligibly on American Idol, Michael Jackson's less crazy sister, Britney Spears (enough said), two battered and bruised African American divas, a bald chick who hates the Pope, a former Lilith Fair staple that looks like a man and some girl I've never heard of. Is this the company Taylor really wants to keep so early in her promising career? I think not.

While Aaliyah is a credible winner, her tragic fate is not one Taylor wants to meet. And Eve and Pink are fine if you like girls with bad taste in hair and fashion with a few top 10 hits. So that leaves Alanis, Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson. Not bad paths to follow, but the latter two's careers are still young. Give it ten years and they might be the next Tina Turner and Cyndi Lauper.

Point is, there might be a curse on this award. Beware to future winners. As for you Taylor, don't marry an abusive guy, blow a lot of powder or marry and have a baby with your white trash back up dancer and you should be fine as long as you still keep making mediocre country music.

2) MTV no longer carries any credibility as far as music is concerned. When Music Television started in 1984, it played MUSIC videos. All the time. It was where people went to find new music. You saw a video you liked and you went out and bought the album. That was how the music world worked until roughly 1997 when MTV fell prey to reality TV. Now if you want to catch some good music videos, you have to wake up at the crack of dawn and can only enjoy them until about 8 AM, but for the other twenty-one hours all MTV broadcasts is, well, for lack of better terms... garbage. If you haven't watched it much lately, give it an hour of your time and then feel free to ache for the youth that are raised on this junk.

If MTV wanted to have a respected awards show nowadays, the execs should probably consider something along the lines of the Razzies. That would make more sense with what MTV brings to the entertainment table these days.

If this all went down at the Grammy's then yes, Kanye was way in the wrong because the Grammy's are backed by a long suited tradition of excellence in the music world. But it happened on MTV, a network that once upon a time was built around being cutting edge. Now something crazy like this happens and the entire world freaks the heck out. Remember in 1993 when Snoop Dogg was arrested literally right after the VMA's for being a suspect in a drive by shooting? That's cutting edge. Or in '92 when Nirvana and Guns n Roses almost came to blows after verbally sparring most of the night? That's cutting edge. Or in 2000 when Rage Against the Machine member Tim Commerford climbed the set, flipped out and threatened to jump. Also cutting edge.

But no more cutting edge. No more music. No more excitement for anyone but junior high kids and people that wish they were still junior high kids. Sorry MTV, but today you are the dregs of the television world.

And last:

3) Nobody should feel sorry for Taylor Swift. This only adds to her sweet, innocent girl persona.


"Aww. Poor girl got interrupted. She's such a martyr."

Wrong. She's a 19 year old girl with more money than she knows what to do with, a horde of teenage fans with more spending power than I'll probably ever know, an additional horde of creepy old guy fans that send her inappropriate Polaroids by the thousands and a career that has taken country music by storm. Move over Leann Rimes and Shania, here comes the new country diva and her name is Taylor. She's the biggest thing in the world right now, and even I succumb to her catchy tunes. Really, I mean who can resist her smile and her sweet melodies? So why should I feel sorry that she got upstaged by a jealous Kanye West? Why should anyone? She's got perhaps the brightest future of anyone in this country right now and we should cry for her? No. Instead we should kick our feet back and laugh at the whole soap opera that happened Sunday night. Because it's funny. I think Kanye is a genius. Because while her record sales went up the next day, I can almost guarantee his did too.

So T-Swift and Kanye? What a silly little story. What a big waste of time media outlets have spent reporting it. It's just not worth headline news. Maybe an occasional blog or spot on TMZ or in US Weekly, but not CNN, Fox or NBC. There are more important things to worry about. This fluff is just that, fluff.

Oh. And apparently even the leader of the free world has an opinion. To quote Mr. Obama on Kanye, "He's a jackass."