MTV may be keeping mum on whether or not Britney Spears will take to the stage and perform at next month’s 2008 MTV Video Music Awards but they are happily letting the world know that Brit Brit is appearing in the new promo campaign for the awards show. Here is our first look at a new promo pic for this year’s VMAs which features Britney Spears, VMAs host Russell Brand and a 900 lb. elephant in the room:

She’s (almost) back! A year after her embarrassing performance at the Video Music Awards , Britney Spears returned to the MTV stage this week to tape a promotional video for this year’s ceremony. “Britney looked really good,” says a source. “It was improvisational questions and answers with [host] Russell Brand just like [other promo guest stars] LL Cool J and Pete Wentz did. Russell joked about there being sexual tension, and Britney shot back, ‘I don’t feel the tension’. The other joke was about no one knowing who Russell was so she called him by the wrong name. LL called him Russell Bland and Britney called him Russell Brown.” The shoot also included a 9,000 pound elephant. Says the source, “The joke of the whole thing is ‘there is an elephant in the room’.” While the network cannot confirm whether Spears will appear on the show airing on Sept. 7, Spears’s promo appearance is a promising sign. The singer, who has been nominated 17 times, has yet to walk away with a win and is nominated for two this year. She is up for best female video and best pop video.

OMG! She is SOOOO gonna be there. And she is SOOOO gonna kick ass this year, I just know it. I had the misfortune to bear witness to Britney‘s disastrous performance inside the Pearl Theater at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV for the VMAs last year and remember how disappointed everyone (including me) was … but this year, I just know it, she’s gonna undo all of that negativity. I can feel it in me bones, she is gonna have a huge comeback this time … I know it, I know it, I know it. Just wait and see …

[Source]