Kanyegate: Why It’s Time to Stop Talking About the VMAs and Change the Satellite TV Station

In September, thousands of Americans tuned in to watch the annual MTV Video Music Awards.  Though the channel has slipped slightly in recent years and arguably become almost obsolete, the stars continue to come out for prize night and we continue to watch on.  It is not that we are interested to see who wins the awards ' we are interested to find out what will happen.  The MTV Video Music Awards (the VMAs) may not be the classiest broadcast, but it does always promise a few twists, turns and surprises.

This year was no different.  As we watched on from our high definition televisions, even the biggest sports fans among us foregoing the games featured on our NFL Sunday Ticket subscriptions and changing the satellite TV station, we were not disappointed.  Madonna's tribute to Michael Jackson was deeply moving yet hopelessly self-centered.  Russell Brand's monologue was ironically (or confusingly) sincere.  Lady Gaga's outfits were intriguing.  The show-stopping moment, however, came when Kanye West interrupted the acceptance speech of 17-year-old Taylor Swift, declaring that Beyonce (and not Taylor) had the best music video of the year and therefore deserved the Best Female Video award ' not Taylor.

Though the interruption lasted just seconds, we have since spent relentless hours talking about it.  Everyone has put in his or her two cents regarding the issue, from Kelly Clarkson to the president.  West has been villainized to no end, and Swift has been portrayed as a helpless victim.  Several apologies have been issued, including on the new Jay Leno show, but it seems that all of the bustle will not quite die down.

And though there is no arguing that what Kanye West did to Taylor Swift was awful ' the look on her face during the episode reveals just a smidgen of the damage he did to the young singer's ego and, of course, feelings ' all of the buzz about a 5-second interruption does beg the question of whether or not it was really that big of a deal.  

West loves media attention, and has long been known for his larger-than-life egotism.  He complains that he doesn't win awards, so why should we be surprised when he complains that others don't win awards, too?  His apologies have been half-hearted at best and only given after his own realization that a little groveling is necessary for him to be redeemed.  And Swift herself has tried to quite the talk about the VMAs.  What happened was surprising, but not the news of the year.

So what to do now?  It seems that the simplest answer is to move on.  The American media is notorious for pinning unnecessary importance to trivial events in a ploy for cash-earning sensationalism.  While they're not likely to stop playing this game in the future, we can stop playing it with them.  With all other sorts of important news out there ' health care reform, the swine flu, the economic crisis, heck, even Barack Obama swatting a fly ' it's time for us to move on and let go.  Kanye and Swift have already kissed and made up (metaphorically and superficially), so why can't we do the same too?