The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Are Handed Out
As we are all pretty much aware by now, the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards were handed out at Radio City Music Hall here in NYC last night in a ceremony that was mired in controversy but also featured heartfelt tributes to the late Michael Jackson as well as a few spectacular performances and on stage appearances. Here are a few photos from the red carpet arrivals last night:
But for a few exceptions, most everyone looked amazing on the red carpet. I loved all the shiny bling that some folks were wearing … particularly Kristin Cavallari who wore a simple vintage dress and looked absolutely amazing in it. The show itself was really fun .. the opening tribute performance to MJ was really very cool and except for Kanye West’s douchey behavior, the show was very entertaining. Here are a few pics from the show and some deets about what went down:
Planned and random acts of kindness reigned at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday night. Among the planned acts: Janet Jackson’s opening tribute to her brother Michael, whose death at age 50 on June 25 rocked the music world. The production began with Madonna recalling her encounter with Michael and reminding the audience that “Michael Jackson was a hero.” And while “he seemed otherworldly,” she added, “he was also a human being.” And then, the performance began. Dancers crept up on stage with original Thriller video airing in the background. The dancers’ moves duplicated the ones being performed on the video. Then a sequence of Michael’s hits played. Bad and Smooth Criminal led to Scream, his duet with Janet, who broke through glass to make her way onstage and sing along with the video. The loud, almost angry performance had the audience on its feet. After the tribute, Madonna said backstage that “it was good to finally get to say my piece.” And then near the end of the show, in a gracious act of kindness, video-of-the-year winner Beyoncé offered young country music star Taylor Swift a second chance to say her piece with an acceptance speech. The moment came after Kanye West took everyone by surprise early in the show when he went onstage to interrupt Swift’s acceptance speech for best female video for You Belong With Me … The teen country star returned for her live performance of You Belong With Me later in the show. Celebrities reacted backstage. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong said, “Well, you know, she’s young, I think she’ll get over it. I think he needs to get it over it also. It was very uncomfortable sitting there.” “I feel bad for Taylor,” said Kristin Cavallari. “I think it was really disrespectful” … Other music-related news items had guests talking at the awards show, too. American Idol’s Kara DioGuardi was asked about her new colleague at the judges’ table, Ellen DeGeneres. “I feel fantastic. I feel ecstatic. I can’t wait for January, when we can all be on the panel.” DioGuardi added that she has been in touch with former judge Paula Abdul. “I’ve spoken to her, and she seems to be doing really well, and that’s what matters.” Abdul is set to play host at the VH1 Divas special on MTV’s sister network on Thursday night (9 ET/PT). Faye Dunaway had two divas she was looking forward to seeing on Sunday at the VMAs. “Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. How could you not love Beyoncé?” Dunaway asked. Ne-Yo echoed Dunaway’s sentiment. When asked who he was rooting for, he replied, “Besides myself?” and then added, “I’m here to see Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Pink, everyone. I’m here just to enjoy the electricity.” And the atmosphere was electric, with returning host Russell Brand doling out his brash brand of humor. Among the stars: Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, Eminem, Jermaine Jackson, Katy Perry, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.
For me, the live performances were the highlight of the entire night. After the jump, check out a few photos from the press room and watch a couple of my fave performances from the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards …
As usual, Beyoncé put on a killer performance … here is video of her performance of Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) which took home the biggest award of the night — Video of the Year:
But as great as Beyoncé’s performance was, I think I have to say that P!nk’s performance of Sober was the best of the night. Her ability to sing live and still do feats of high wire acrobatics was really impressive … check it out:
A shout out also goes to our dear Britney Spears who won the VMA for Best Pop Video!! Altho she couldn’t be in NYC to collect her award, she did pretend to be performing in concert elsewhere but gave her thanks anyways (a check of her tour schedule reveals that she did NOT have a concert performance last night even tho she said she did when accepting her award via video) — LOL! Oh, Britney. All in all, I had a great time at the VMAs last night … I’ll have personal photos to share a little later on.
[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source, Source]
Tags: 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)', 'Sober', Alicia Keys, Beyoncé Knowles, Britney Spears, Chace Crawford, Green Day, Janet Jackson, Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Jermaine Jackson, Kristin Cavallari, Lil' Mama, Madonna, Nick Wheeler, P!nk, Shakira, Taylor Swift, The MTV Video Music Awards, Tyson Ritter
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September 14th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Pink’s performance was truly amazing! You’re right, Trent – how she was able to sing live and be flipping like 100 feet in the air is remarkable. She sounded and looked great! Very entertaining.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:35 am
SO glad u caught that. haha
They actually phrased so that she could have meant on tour PERIOD. u know like she’s on a tour. (like everyone doesnt know that already.lol )
But pink definitely gets the best performance award. Beyonce’s was good of course but come on how many times have we seen that EXACT SAME performance!? She should have just done sweet dreams and thats it.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Wow- Pink blew me away!
September 14th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Pinks was awesome!! I totally forgot these were on last night!!
September 14th, 2009 at 10:41 am
To be fair to Britney it is Preston’s and JJ’s birthday weekend JJ’s was Saturday and today’s Preston’s so I get why she wasn’t there. Yay green day won they were amazing last night my favorite part of the show.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Beyonce is incredible! Love all your VMA’s coverage, Trent!!
September 14th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I Loved both P!nk and Lady Gaga performance. Very intresting. P!nk is in awsome shape. She sounded as if she was sitting on stage relaxed. Amazing. Gaga- loved her crazyness.
As Far as Kanye goes. That D-Bag lost another fan. what a bitch move
September 14th, 2009 at 10:50 am
-you know alot of ppl hate on JLO’s dress….but theres something about it i like, and i think only she could pull it off.
-i love the dress pink & shakria wore.
-i wish beyonce only did sweet dreams.
- and maybe brits video was taped a couple days before and she actually was doing a show?…i dunno
September 14th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Who is the shirtless dude? Is that the guy from All American Rejects??
September 14th, 2009 at 10:57 am
OMG! It is SO friggin hard to sing while upside down! Pink has some serious lung/diaphragm strength! Absolutely amazing performance!
I also thought GaGa’s performance was great. It was more of a theater piece than anything else. I’m not a huge fan of her’s, but I appreciate that she did something different.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Pink was amazing! I can’t belive what great shape she must be in to sing through those acrobatic moves!!! Gaga is a crazy, wonderful piece of art. Love her since the second I laid eyes on her!! Beyonce was great, as always. What a great show (aside from that vag Kanye)
September 14th, 2009 at 11:11 am
uh. ok. don’t wanna be a negative nelly, but theres no way in holy hell that Pink’s performance was all live. That shit was prerecorded.
And Nicole makes the same point that I thought. They never said they were streaming Britney’s acceptance speech live. They probably recorded it the day before.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Well,well,well, yet ANOTHER scandal about Kanye West and an outburst at yet ANOTHER awards show. Shock me,shock me,shock me! No doubt about it the man is a total douche, but how much you wanna bet that this morning while drinking his Tang and googling his name he was rubbing his hands together and
(ego)maniacally laughing in glee because once again news outlets, internet bloggers, and people that tweet(twitterers?) have made him the number one story in news entertainment today? No matter how you look at it you just can’t buy that kinda of attention and publicity.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:13 am
oh and does anyone know WHY IN THE HELL Lil’ Mama appeared on stage randomly at the end of JayZ’s performance???
seriously, if anyone knows, please share.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:15 am
I thought Taylor’s performance was really classy and cute. I felt so bad for her. I’m not a Beyonce fan but she gained some points with me when she allowed Taylor to accepted her award for the second time. I can’t stand Kanye West. Lady GaGa’s performance was kind of horrendous. Beyonce did pretty good, I thought. Pink was good but she’s okay with me in general. To be honest, I can understand Britney’s reason not to go since it’s her sons birthdays and all but I’m really disappointed with her. Her “team” suck and I’m really losing faith in her as a fan and her lazy behavior as an artist is totally inexcusable. Yuck.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Pink was absolutely AMAZING!!!
September 14th, 2009 at 11:22 am
I think Kanye West is the biggest A$$hole I have ever had the pleasure to NOT meet!!! What a tosser, I think he should be banned form the VMA’s for all his bad behaviour, poor Taylor.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:30 am
MTV must be happy because the VMAs finally lived up to the hype. They do need to step it up with the security because what Kanye and Lil Mama did was down right rude and disrespectful. Props to all the ladies and their great performances!
September 14th, 2009 at 11:51 am
i do not “get” lady gaga? seriously, what is her deal. i just don’t get it. beyonce did great, but she keeps pimping that same ole routine… everywhere. sigh. i’d have loved to see somthing new, for a change
September 14th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Oh, yummy … the boy in the leather harness in the Britney group pic. ;)
September 14th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
There is no way Pink was singing live. It was not hard to tell at all that the music was prerecorded. Nice try.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Observing Mr. West’s behavior over the years, convinced me that Kanye possibly has ADHD. His impulsivity is typical of a teenager with ADHD, he needs to have his Ritalin or to get some coaching to deal with his emotional behavioral issues before he gets himself into more problems again.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I CAN NOT WAIT to go see P!NK live on Friday!!
September 14th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
@Trent…in Britney’s defense, that award was given to her before the show as evident by the dancers watching it on TV in one of the many hotel rooms here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSVv6w1OQH0. So as far as the pretending to be performing in concert someplace else, she actually was performing in concert when she filmed her acceptance speech. Correct me if I am wrong though.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Yeah, Trent, what was up with Lil Mama? Did she randomly run up there? All I know is one second I was watching J and Alicia Keys, and then she is up there posing. Was she there the whole time, and I’ve gone crazy?
September 14th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
@Larry — Actually, I think you’re right. Still … it would’ve been awesome if she would’ve popped up as a surprise on the show. I’m not sure what you feel you need to defend?
September 14th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
@Dr. E — I think his problem is too much ego + too much booze. He was drinking a bottle of cognac on the red carpet, still had the bottle in had when MTV kicked his ass out.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Hands down, Pink’s performance was THEE BEST of the night. And Beyonce’s was a very-close second.
I was never a fan of Taylor Swift before, but I admire her now for handling things so well. I’ll be listening to her with a new ear and I already like what I hear.
I hope I never have to see or read about Kanye West ever again.
I loved Jack Black’s “Brutal Legend”, I’d love to have one of my own.
Madonna’s jacket was HOT, I’d love to have one of my own of those as well!
The Michael Jackson tribute was just so amazing to watch. It musta been tough for Janet Jackson to get through it, but it was great to watch.
BIG UPS to Beyonce for handing Taylor Swift the mic at the end of the night. At least the show ended on a good note.
…
@Trent – I’m curious, did you see Kanye West drinking on the red carpet? (I know I just said above that I don’t ever wanna read about him ever again, but I think this guy needs to visit AA or get some kind of help, he’s outta control)
September 14th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
@Trent — I guess, to me, you made it seem like you were calling our girl out on something which wasn’t true. However, you’re right, there is no need to be defensive about it. I am with you on the surprise appearance though, that would have been awesome. Glad you had a good time.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
@Monique — LMAO i thought the same thing. WTF are you doing up there. No one even paid any mind to her.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I really liked Lady Gaga’s performance. She sings full out, and always is surprising. I literally gasped! When everything seems played out, it is refreshing to be surprised. I thought Beyonce did a good job, she always puts 100% into her performances, but I wish she would have sang a little bit more. She is such a strong singer, and we have seen her do all of those moves before. I thought that P!nk was amazing…and yes, she IS very fit and trained so I doubt she was lip synching. She does that in her tour (highest grossing tour in Australia EVER), and she has been on tour for months now. I bet she is used to that by now.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
@Larry — dude, I love Britney so much … she is my girl. I was only kidding around, I love her!!
September 14th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
@Kent — This is why we are virtual BFFs :) Yes, Kanye was carrying a half empty bottle of cognac … he was a mess. I’m way over him.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Trent, what didu think of russel brands hosting? I’m watching it now and just don’t know what to think!!
September 14th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I’m also glad you caught the fact that once again Britney disappoints her die hard fans and decided to not show up for a show that could have been a staple in her already huge comeback. I do not understand her team and those that have a say in what she does…Just because she shows up at the show doesnt mean she cant celebrate her kids birthdays. The VMAs are basically her time to shine and she blows it for the second time. if anything it needed to be the perfect opportunity to showcase her talent and why she “deserved” (even the she didn’t) the awards she won last year. She brought her “A “game with the Womanizer and Circus videos and her noms were proof of that so it was her time to showcase it through performance. I’m baffled by her too much and thats just such a let down
September 14th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Wow. I’m totally stunned by Pink’s performance. I don’t really listen to her music, and I don’t have MTV or anything, so I don’t see videos unless I look for them online….. But DAYUM… that was a beautiful song and her ability to perform the way she did AND SING AT THE SAME TIME – just blows me away. That was awesome. It’s hard enough to sing and dance at the same time, but doing what she was doing – wow.
I didn’t like her costume, but her performance totally made that not matter!!!!
September 14th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
on another note, although fans have their say, they should not have a say as to what is REALLY considered the best videos for each category other than a peoples choice award. Artists should not be given those types of awards because they have annoying 12 year old fans that constantly vote for their favorite artist, when other more deserving artists should win. If anything fans should only be able to vote in order to figure out what videos should be nominated. Single Ladies took a very simple concept and created a dance revolution unseen since the macarena and for that it should have gotten best female video, as well as video of the year which it won. It seems stupid that a video can Win for Video of the year and not win for female video of the year…it makes no sense, isnt it technically considered the best video?????and she is a female so it should go to her…Both Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson should not have had those nominations, especially because Britney Spears was shut out of that Category altogether when we all know that Circus and Womanizer were killer compared to Taylor and Kelly. Although this entire situation isn’t all that serious, it makes you wonder…Do the majority of people that watch music videos or MTV even know what Taylor Swifts music video is like? As a huge music fan and even a fan of some of Taylors stuff, I have personally NEVER watched the video for which she won that award for and I know that I’m not alone in this, so why is she so deserving of her award. Kanye was absolutley right about his rant, given it was not his place to showcase his opinion on stage, well other than maybe him coming up to the stage to accept his own award but still, come on, it’s common sense that Beyonce deserved that award and if nothing even Britney who wasnt even nominated should have won that award. As for Gaga, it was her very first VMA’s and she owned it, people have been saying her outfits are too outlandish and whatnot, but isn’t that was pop music is all about, it’s about dressup. When we see ridiculous outfits on designer runways we ask, why do they make that? who on earth would ever wear that? And now, when we see those outfits our first thought is, thats so Gaga…she wears Art and therefore she IS art. She knows exactly what shes doing and although I love me some Beyonce her performance was nothing compared to Gagas…Gagas had everything that one could imagine doing, whether you like her or not she had you captivated, I can guarantee that noone changed the channel when she was on the screen and thats what a true artist is, so props to Gaga for holding her own on her very first VMAs.
September 14th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Hello!
Wow Janet and JLO. GReat Janet Jackson is back. Leave Britney alone dud huhh?
September 14th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
also, just to be a nit picky bastard, for the record Kanye drank a bottle of HENNESSY all night…which may be a good excuse for his douchebag behavior, even though he’s usually a douche. Taylor should be sending him a bouquet of flowers this morning because this puts her further on the map and made her more so buzzworthy and all anyone can talk about tonight as well as today, had it not happened people would have thought, oh how cute, good for her and thats it…I actually am a fan of hers but she’s nothing special at all, and then she went on to sing in a mediocre way, one of which she always has and always will…although the concept was super original and cool, her vocals are always freaking lacking…so she should thank her lucky stars it happened to her and she gets the sympathy for his actions as opposed to man, taylor really sucks live…and I know it would be really hard to sing live and well under those crushing circumstances but her vocals were on pare with how they usually sound, traumatic event aside
September 14th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
loved pink!!! best of the night, my opinion. beyonce also got some brownie points from me. i’m not a huge fan of hers but after her performance last night and giving the mic to taylor, she def. gained points… i also thought Jay-Z and Alicia Keys perfomance was amazing. i love how Jay-Z acknowledged Beyonce and pointed at her in the beg of the song. I would love to see those 2 perform together. i have to say that these were one of the best VMA’s i’ve seen in a long time. i never watch the whole show and last night, i watched it from beg to end. i usually dont like russell brand but i think he did a good job. he was entertaining and not very disrespectful….
September 14th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
@danielthegreat
“Just to be a nit picky bastard” … Hennessy IS congac. If you’re going to rant, get your facts straight.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
@danielthegreat:
If you have that much stuff to whine about… get your own blog
September 14th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Karma is a bitch. I really enjoy reading about all the backlash. I don’t wish ill on people, but Kanye deserves to lose a few fans. Even the usually sweet Kelly Clarkson tore him a new one on her blog.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Off to see Beyonce tonight in Melbourne, she’s such a tremendous talent, her performance was outstanding at the VMAs.
“All the singles ladies, all the single ladies…”
September 14th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
ugh at kanye period
September 14th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Yeah Pink’s was amazing right. She does all that in concert more than once too. With the sheet materail aswell like in her performance last year. She performs Sweet Dreams Are Made of This. Trent you should see her in concert!!!!
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Australia loves her. WE can’t get enough. She grossed in Australia alone something like $60 million for her tour. Broke so many records. Can you believe she set the record with the “I’m Not Dead Tour” and then re-broke it DURING a recession with her Funhouse Tour. ALL LIVE.
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I know a lot say Beyonce is the hardest working person in the business. I believe Pink is. She promotes her work so hard. Everyone only sees Beyonce working in the US. But Pink promotes it world wide and puts so much effort into her shows. I dont wanna get into the whole, whos better & more talented. But i’m just saying i hate how everyone says Beyonce is the HARDEST working person.
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Good ol’ Britney by the way. But who can be bothered flying after a show to NYC, attending a long awards show with press & media. Maybe attending an after party, flying back to some other state and do a performance the next day. WHILST celebrating your sons brithdays. Trent, you do realize it was Jaydens b’day the other day and Seans was today/yesterday for Aussies. She wanted to be with her babies. But congrats to her and she looked nice.
September 14th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I got on facebook almost within 5 minutes of Kanye’s stunt last night and it was already blowing up with posts… there really is something to be said about being able to watch a live show and chat about it with hundreds of others while watching… it actually made the experience a whole lot cooler… BUT ANYWAY… I really liked this year’s show. The performances were all amazing and the opening and finale performances just brought the whole thing home. I felt like it was MTV’s way of honoring one of their biggest stars and they definitely pulled it out.
Also I think Kanye is a douchebag… seriously I was hoping someone would have either bitch smacked him or whacked him over the head with their statue… because that would have been hysterical.
And Beyonce is the shit, seriously that was the most selfless, graceful thing I think I have ever seen her do on camera
Taylor Swift deserved her award and was humble enough not only to NOT bitch smack Kanye like she should have, but to come back out and then thank B for giving her the second chance to speak.
And J-Hova better be back for awhile because that performance was hot!
September 14th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Oh and as for Britney, wouldn’t they have had to send her the trophy ahead of the award show? So I’m thinking that even though they made it seem like she was going”live” from wherever she was, I thought maybe that part was pre-taped the day before or something.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Pink’s performance was the best of the night. Her voice is amazing and that she could sing live while doing the trapeze/high wire tricks was incredible. Highlight of the night for me. I could’ve done without Green Day. #kanyeisadouche
September 14th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I find MTV very predictable. I don’t personally believe that Green Day is overly relevant to the kids anymore and that Kings of Leon easily would have won (isn’t the VMAs based on voting?). Why do I tihnk this? Green Day was able to be booked and willing for the promotion, KOL weren’t (they were in Canada). I think MTV does this often…
September 15th, 2009 at 6:08 am
@Michelle and others…
What do you think MTV do?? They know who is going to win BEFORE the show. Not through votes, but by viewership & popularity. I don’t think Kanye will ever win a VMA if he hasn’t already – i dont think they will want him back even if it means more viewers.
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But its Britney. Britney was going to win an award even if it was Gimme More. Of corse it was pre-taped and probably before a show. But then again her hair isn’t always that done-up before a show, so it may have been done after a concert or something, but dressed up like that for the speech to be all like “On tour ya’ll”
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Brit is probably the one guest they always want. Well she is. But she is probs the guest that doesnt RSVP. Not until the last minute. Hence why the promo suggests, well she probs will attend considering she is nominated 7 times and is filming a promo. But she doesn’t show!!! Hmmm… it was prob Brit being Brit and all like, nahh im not in the mood. The girl is a diva ya’ll.
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But – my opinion is, as much as i love the VMAs. Some of the awards are given out purely on who’s performing and attending. They dont want all the winners phoning in via satellite. I mean after-all, all they are about is the viewers & getting there money from sponsors etc…
I don’t know, but do the celebs or some get paid to attend. I mean would Brit really attend without getting $$$ from it. Brit these days isn’t the Brit from 2000 where she was on every show promoting herself. She doesn’t need to and she’s also a Mum now. I know that doesn’t give the excuse to just make the album, do a few appearances, OKAY SHE DOES HAVE A WORLD TOUR but ya know. I just imagine MTV pays some celebs to attend and that can wager the outcome of some awards.
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Either way, congrats on the award Brit!!! Heres hoping the Grammy’s acknowledge you. I still think Unusual You needs to be released or should have before the closing date of Grammys in order to be nominated. It is a Grammy worthy song.
September 15th, 2009 at 7:44 am
it makes me laugh how trent hasn’t mentioned Gaga at all so i take it he doesn’t like her.
yet he will take payments to advertise her album at the top of his page
September 15th, 2009 at 8:10 am
@jamie — I live to entertain, glad you laughed :)
September 15th, 2009 at 8:13 am
was anyone else confused with little mama jumped on stage with JayZ and Alicia, or was that just me?
September 15th, 2009 at 8:35 am
@Frog Thank you! someone else noticed. I asked earlier up the page…nothing on it yet
September 15th, 2009 at 9:09 am
@g — this is what I commented on Lil’ Mama yesterday: “@jadedsweetie — I’m sure I have no idea. I believe she was asked about it afterward and she said something like, Jay-Z’s song about NYC moved her emotionally to get on stage. I, personally, think that MTV should put seatbelts on VMA seats for all attendees.”
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
wth? Lady GaGa had the best performance of all of those divas!
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:28 pm
@lilpe — Hahahah, no she didn’t ;)