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The underutilized actress has much to offer, but is not offered much. Also today: the continued employment of Courtney Thorne-Smith, AMC has a bad idea, and Showtime is getting into the Stephen King business. More »
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Whether it was to see Lady Gaga's performance, Jay-Z and Kanye West's duet, or to see Britney Spears' preternaturally early career retrospective, 12.4 million people watch the MTV Video Music Awards last night, the highest ratings in the network's history. Congratulations, but at 30 years old, the network is well past its own target demographic. More »
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At last night's MTV VMAs, Justin Bieber debuted his new pet, a flesh-colored snake named Johnson. Is this standard-issue horny boy juvenilia, or has Bieber taken a turn for the Jacko? "I have a snake," the adolescent male says, extending his Johnson to his girlfriend. "Stop!" the nubile female cries, pushing the fleshy mound away. "I know." [Video via MTV] More »
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Some lady broke her hand on Matthew Fox's face trying to keep him from getting on a bus. Jay-Z was not happy that Chris Brown was performing at the VMAs, Gwyneth Paltrow refused to wear makeup to her book event, and Larry David could be a home wrecker. Monday's gossip is not on the list. More »
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When Lady Gaga opened the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards with a monologue/performance as her male alter ego Jo Calderone, the reaction was generally positive. It was a bit bizarre, sure, but we've come to expect that from Gaga. Plus, it was something new! More »
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Beyoncé and Jay-Z are expecting a little babyoncé, as the radiant mom-to-be herself announced on the VMA red carpet. She's already got a baby bump and at least one pregnant-lady tent dress, which she wore tonight. [Image via AP] More »
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The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards just kicked off with an angry anti-Lady Gaga monologue by... Lady Gaga, dressed as male alter ego Jo Calderone. Gaga/Calderone followed up the monologue with a performance of "You and I," excerpts of which—including reaction shots from Britney Spears and Justin Bieber—you'll find above. More »
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Come one, come all, and join us as we watch the 2011 MTV Music Video Awards! The black carpet pre-show special is airing right now, and the actual VMAs will begin live at 9:00 PM ET. Here's your open forum. More »
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One of television's most likable workhorses may still be in this race. Also today: a long lost Joss Whedon movie sees the light of day, the VMA nominations then cast all that light away, but then Annette Bening brings it all back. More »
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Kanye West visited Ellen today to talk about his upcoming music video film, "Runaway." When DeGeneres asked him to explain the thinking behind his Taylor Swift interruption, West blamed alcohol, culture warring (is he Bill O'Reilly?), and more! Watch inside. More »
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Following her big night at last night's VMAs, Lady Gaga—and her controversial meat dress—visited Ellen DeGeneres for today's season premiere. Gaga and DeGeneres discussed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the hoopla over the aforementioned dress, and more. Video inside. More »
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PETA's surprisingly reasonable complaint about Lady Gaga's meat dress: "After time spent under the TV lights, it would smell like the rotting flesh that it is and likely be crawling in maggots." That's why I prefer mink stoles. More »
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A fairly subdued (compared to her now-defunct Myspace profile) Deena Nicole walked the VMA red carpet last night. Inside, she gives a diplomatic answer to the Ronnie and Sammie two-state solution and defends Snooki's honor. More »
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[Rapper Nicki Minaj readies herself for internet meme status posing for press photographers backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga won best video, and young songwriter Kanye West performed some kind of a "rap." Pic via AP.] More »
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I can't even begin to explain how odd—and, yes, pathetic—this was. I can't! Here's Taylor Swift performing at the VMAs with a ridiculous song she wrote about Kanye West's interruption of her during last year's show. Video inside. More »
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The 2010 MTV VMAs are currently underway (live chat here), and they opened with a bang, as host Chelsea Handler was accosted by a cameo-making Lindsay Lohan in a bit that spoofed Lohan's recent troubles. Video of the intro, inside. More »
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Come one, come all, and join us as we live blog the 2010 MTV Music Video Awards! The white carpet special starts at 8:00 PM ET and the show itself begins at 9:00. Inside, more information and your open thread. More »
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Gucci has a new fragrance, Guilty, and Frank Miller directed a promotional short for it—starring Evan Rachel Wood and Chris Evans—that'll premiere during the 2010 VMAs. The weird part: there's a trailer out. A trailer. For a commercial. More »
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When Guest of a Guest speculated that last night's Kanye West-Taylor Swift incident at the VMAs was scripted it sent a shockwave through Gawker HQ. Brian Moylan thinks it's fake and Richard Rushfield thinks it's real. Punches are being thrown! More »
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Okay, it's silly. Lady Gaga probably doesn't have a penis. But maybe she does. And now, there are rumblings that Lady Gaga has something incredible in store for tonight's VMAs. Let's go over this one more time. Update! Well... More »
]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5358400&view=rss&microfeed=true • The New York Times Co. is selling its classical radio station WQXR to WNYC Radio and Univision as part of a "complex deal." One thing that isn't complex: The sale will pump a much-needed $45 million into the paper's coffers. [NYT] More »
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After a long history of exclusively dating poseurs and paparazzi, comeback-adjacent singer Britney Spears may be taking on her biggest romantic challenge yet: Russell Brand. Though their first meeting at a VMAs commercial went poorly, with Spears recoiling from the comedian and calling him "Russell Brown," the Daily Mail reports that the two hooked up this week (noting, in their helpfully British way, that Brand is "an ex-drug and sex addict"): More »
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Bravely taking her pro-abstinence, purity-ring-rocking message to the Fox News flock, Jordin Sparks spent a few minutes last night explaining her recent outburst against oversexed Video Music Awards host Russell Brand. The difference between a "non-virgin" and "slut" remains foggy, but, at the very least, Sparks's convictions are burnished here to the fine Murdochian glow that so eluded the MTV class last weekend. The same cannot be said for her remarks on the subject of temptation ("I'm not saying I'm perfect by any means!"), from which conservative firebrand and noted hymen-defense expert Sean Hannity was later forced to rescue her with that metaphorical bucket of ice water known around the Fox offices as "a commercial break." [Fox News] More »
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Mostly lost in the furor over the purity ring comments made by VMAs host Russell Brand were the even more scathing jabs he threw the Republicans' way during the telecast. Never afraid to be politically controversial (a formerly crack-addled Brand was fired from British MTV for showing up to work on September 12, 2001 dressed as Osama Bin Laden), the comedian called President Bush a "retarded cowboy" who "wouldn't be trusted with a pair of scissors," then dismissed the teen pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter as a "PR stunt." Now, Brand is telling the UK's Daily Telegraph that he had one even more outrageous Palin joke in that vein, but MTV wouldn't let him tell it: More »
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The VMAs tend to be known for their feuds, whether it's Madonna vs. Courtney Love, Kid Rock vs. Tommy Lee, or Michael Jackson vs. his overwhelming fear of Lisa Marie Presley's pursed lips. This year's ceremony was no different, though the anger came from an unexpected source: American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, who overstepped a line while defending the Jonas Brothers' purity, declaring, "It's not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody — guy or girl — wants to be a slut." This implication of an either/or sexual ultimatum prompted an outcry from the historically ribald music world, with elder stateswoman Courtney Love prescribing an unorthodox remedy of "pussy and some cock" and the Jonas Brothers themselves laying hands on salacious host Russell Brand to forgive him. Now, in an interview with EW, Sparks clarifies her controversial words: More »
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Purity Ratings: Though this year's chaste edition of the MTV Video Music Awards couldn't boast a must-see trainwreck on the level of Britney Spears's 2007 performance, it still outrated that telecast by 15% in MTV's 12-34 target demo (it beat the 2006 edition by a whopping 41%, and averaged 8.4 million total viewers overall). In fact, according to Broadcasting & Cable, the VMAs telecast was the highest-rated cable show in that demo so far this year. Just think how many more viewers could have been retained without the weirdly shot, one-joke Jonah Hill intro! [Broadcasting & Cable] More »
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Heading into Sunday night's VMAs, one could never have predicted that the Jonas Brothers would end up central to the ceremony's only real controversy; and yet, thanks to Russell Brand's purity-tweaking jokes and Jordin Sparks's impassioned tirade against sluts, there they found themselves. Would the squeaky-clean trio retaliate by wagging their ringed fingers in Brand's face, or would they take Courtney Love's colorful advice to sample "some pussy and some cock and shut the hell up"? According to the BBC, they chose a different route, claiming to be fans of Brand (thanks to his last Conan O'Brien appearance) and giving him some pointers on pleasing the fickle American audience: More »
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Though it's been a long while since Courtney Love caused controversy at the VMAs, the singer wasn't about to let last night's purity ring flap pass by without giving that virginal young upstart Jordin Sparks the what-for. Yes, even though Love claims not to have watched last night's ceremony (though she adores host Russell Brand), she took to her blog to denounce the latest crop of chaste young performers, giving them the sort of X-rated advice that would make a Jonas Brother blush (not that Miley, though — she's heard it all). We've excerpted the best bits below, though we warn you that they're hard to read — not because of their shock value, but because their author is the garrulous misspeller Courtney Love: More »
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It's pretty much been an all-VMA recap kind of day here at Defamer HQ. Not only have we caught you up on our red carpet conversations with Brooke Hogan, Robert Pattinson and Brett Ratner, but we've also given you nearly 24 hours to digest all the goings-on from last night's event. All of which leads us into tonight's installment of Defamer To Do's, where Molls deconstructs some of the evening's high points (namely, T.I.'s LACMA worthy performance) and head-scratchers (why why WHY did X-Tina choose to lip sync?). Enjoy! More »
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While conducting interviews at the VMAs yesterday, the nearby booth advertising Rock Band 2 was the cacophonous bane of our existence — though no one was more unhappy to see it than director Brett Ratner. As you may recall, the Defamer-beloved auteur (and big penis enthusiast) aspires to direct a film adaptation based on Rock Band's rival video game franchise, Guitar Hero. Since the idea continues to boggle our minds, we knew we had to venture a question, even if the resulting Defamer-on-Ratner interaction threatened to spin the world off its axis. Fortunately, the Rush Hour 3 helmer was every bit the gentleman. We blame the heatstroke. [MTV]

• WATCH VIDEO

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While we enjoyed sharing with you the alternately entertaining, excruciating, and utterly discombobulating experience of attending the 2008 VMAs in person, there were moments completely lost on us from our extremely un-VIP vantage point. Take, for example, this off-prompter ad-lib from Jordin Sparks, in which the uncomfortable tension building steadily in Soundstage 16—Brandian anti-Republicanism and hypersexuality reacting against Jonas Brothers's calculated chastity—burst like on overfilled water balloon. What we hadn't noticed at the time was her co-presenter John Legend's overt attempts at distancing himself from Sparks's pro-abstinence sentiments, displaying his naked fingers to indicate the absence of any such sex-warding amulets from Zales. He's good to go, groupies! More »
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Though it's only been a scant ten days since John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, it's hard to find anyone on earth immune to the media onslaught that followed. Oh, for the halcyon days of mid-August, when our nation was more consumed with the abdominals of Michael Phelps than the baby-making, celebrity-stifling, Liz Lemon-resembling Palin name! To meet the rare creature who still knows nothing about the controversial candidate would be like staring into the windows of our pre-RNC innocence, and reader, we found such a transcendent experience on the carpet of the VMAs last night: More »
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[Weathered pop singer Britney Spears celebrating her three 'Moon Men' win at last night's MTV Video Music Awards; image via Splash] More »
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· Let Lindsay Lohan, Albert Brooks, Jamie Lynn Spears, and Life Magazine introduce you to the GOP's great vice-presidential hope. More »
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· Oh. Ma. Ga. Ladies and gentlemen: Britney Spears, lean, mean, and executing complicated choreography. Is she actually going to perform at the VMAs? You'll just have to tune in to our liveblog—from the actual theater, all live-like!—to find out. [MSN Video] More »
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Though ladykiller VMAs host Russell Brand is certainly no stranger to female anatomy, his elephant-starring VMAs commercial with Britney Spears was nearly waylaid when he became obsessed with, as he puts it, one "terrifying vagina." In a chat with the Ebert-usurping Ben Lyons, Brand details how the elephant's mammoth sexual orifice nearly blew his mind, causing him to be late to an initial meeting with Spears (and subsequently leading the confused pop singer to ID him on-air as "Russell Brown"). With colorful anecdotes like these, the Defamer liveblog of this Sunday's VMAs should be a breeze; most of all, we can't wait until an onstage Brand takes the Jonas Brothers aside to demonstrate the colorful things an ambitious trio is really capable of. [MTV] More »
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VMA FYI: In news that will surely please his favorite white girl Scarlett Johansson, Kanye West has been picked to close out this year's VMAs (which will be opened — in some fashion — by Britney Spears). Since it's the ceremony's 25th anniversary, the network says we can expect winks to MTV's past including Christina Aguilera returning to reprise "Genie in a Bottle," and Katy Perry essaying Madonna's "Like a Virgin." And just like at this year's MTV Movie Awards, we'll be live on the red carpet Sunday evening causing havoc and liveblogging our hearts out. But unlike the '07 VMAs, this year's event looks like it might actually be able to hold our interest, thanks to the addition of the unpredictable Russell Brand as host. Let's just hope they don't let Eva Longoria Parker near him — MTV couldn't afford the FCC fine if those two got into water sports again. [MTV] More »
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Comeback Comeback: Britney Spears's ongoing flirtation with this year's VMAs has progressed past the stage of hanging out near an elephant while Russell Brand played Itsy Bitsy Spider up her inner thigh. She's going to open the show—though great care is being taken not to have a repeat of last year's performance, a still of which now appears next to the word "train·wreck" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Instead, MTV Networks Music Group President Van Toffler said it will be something "fun and unexpected." Britney said in a statement, "MTV has long played an important role in my career. How can I not be there to kick off their 25th VMAs? I'm excited to open the entire show, to say hi to my fans and to be nominated." [AP/Yahoo] More »
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Though MTV isn't always respectful of its own history, it can usually be counted on to remember one thing: a VMAs ceremony is nothing without a memorable kiss. Whether it's Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley or Madonna and Britney Spears, celebrity-on-celebrity Frenching is an absolute must if the network hopes to draw buzz through umpteen rebroadcasts the following week. Luckily, one of this year's biggest songs — "I Kissed a Girl" — gives MTV just the opportunity it needs. Says E!'s Marc Malkin: More »
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