Lady Gaga was a triple threat at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, parading about in a hat trick of increasingly bizarre outfits. She began on the red carpet clad in a frill of black feathers and a golden half-mask. Then she donned bloody white lingerie — having feigned being struck by a falling chandelier — to sing “Paparazzi.” She finally turned up in her seat wearing a red sheath that covered her from head to thigh, capped by a fiery crown of spiky fabric.
No wonder she won Best New Artist.
Gaga was just one of the attractions of a night that saw Kanye West booed repeatedly for stealing Taylor Swift’s moment in the spotlight, Madonna cheered for a moving tribute to Michael Jackson and Robert Pattinson screeched at just for showing up, being hunky and showing a new clip of his upcoming film “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
And we haven’t even gotten into Pink and Shakira. They wore the same dress!
Returning to Radio City Music Hall for the first time in three years, the red carpet witnessed Pink arriving on a fire truck, West gulping Hennessey and Swift trotting in on a horse and buggy.
“It’s ladies night,” Pink gushed about Gaga and Beyoncé Knowles going head-to-head with nine nominations.
Knowles lost Best Female Video to Swift — prompting West to bum rush the stage — but later picked up Video of the Year for “Single Ladies (Put A Ring on It),” which she performed in a stunning silver leotard.
The winner of the Best Male Video, T.I., couldn’t accept his award for “Live Your Life” because he’s currently serving a year-long sentence in Forrest City, Ark., on federal weapons charges.
Madonna didn’t do the red carpet, but did greet photographers backstage, moments after giving a eulogy that hushed the entire Radio City theater.
“Michael Jackson was born in August, 1958 — so was I,” she said. “Michael Jackson grew up in the suburbs of the Midwest — so did I. Michael Jackson had eight brothers and sisters — so do I.”
Madonna went on to describe an odd night she spent with the King of Pop. They went out for lunch and wound up back at her pad, watching a movie. The Gloved One held her hand. That, she said, was just before “the witch hunt began” and her friend was judged by “the roar of the lynch mob.”
Janet Jackson kept the tribute going with a reprise of “Scream,” her duet with Michael. For a few brief, exhilarating moments, she appeared to be dancing in tandem with her brother’s image on the screen behind her.
But every time things got too serious, the rowdy audience could count on raunchy Brit comic Russell Brand to hit on, well, everything in sight.
Trying to woo Megan Fox and Lady Gaga, he said of the talk that Gaga might be a hermaphrodite, that it was just because she’s a strong female and said, “I would like to condemn the male-dominated media.” Then he paused and said, “Yeah, I’m trying to (bleep) her.”