Kanye West, Massive Tool

Is there a bigger asshole on the planet than Kanye West? Not likely.

MTV wants Sunday’s conflict between Kanye West and Taylor Swift to be viewed in only two places: on its TV channel and on its Web site.

At the network’s Video Music Awards, Mr. West, who has a history of televised outbursts, “once again took umbrage when the awards process didn’t go the way he wanted it to,” as the Associated Press put it. When Ms. Swift accepted the award for Best Female Video, Mr. Kanye jumped on stage and told the audience, “Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.” Ms. Swift looked stunned; the crowd began to boo. “The television broadcast cut away to a wide shot of the stage, and then to a taped segment featuring the comedian Tracy Morgan,” Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times says.

But what about the viewers who didn’t catch the moment live on MTV? Many went to YouTube, the world’s largest video sharing Web site, where they tried to find copies of the video clip. But MTV’s parent company Viacom — which is embroiled in a long-running $1 billion lawsuit with YouTube — engaged in a game of media whack-a-mole, flagging illicit copies of the videos almost as soon as they appeared.

Underexposed President to Appear in Back-to-School Special

Thank goodness someone finally got around to giving Barack Obama some face time on television. You so rarely get a glimpse of the guy, you get the feeling he's camera shy or something.

President Barack Obama will appear in a back-to-school television special with singer Kelly Clarkson and basketball star LeBron James next month.

Obama is appearing in a 30-minute documentary that will air at 8 p.m. Sept. 8 on BET, MTV, VH1, CMT, Comedy Central, Spike TV and Nickelodeon, all of them Viacom networks. Obama also plans to deliver a back-to-school speech to the nation's students on the same day.

Viacom owns CBS, so consider this a free commercial plug from one of Obama's networks. How kind of them.

I saw Karl Rove on televison last night giving advice to Obama on how to curtail his precipitous slide in the polls. One of them was to get out of people's faces on a daily basis. Never has a politician been more overexposed than this guy and people are sick of him. I doubt Obama's in the business of taking Rove's advice, but he might want to consider giving us a break.

Yeah, I know, wishful thinking.

Classy: MTV Tool Wanted to Use 'Joke' About Palin Executing Her Daughter

Apparently the folks at MTV saved this douchebag from total career suicide. Maybe those brainiacs at the Obama campaign can bring him out on the trail to help fire up the dwindling crowds.

The British comedian appeared to annoy celebrities and some fans when he made a series of risque political and sexual jokes hosting the 25th anniversary show.

But Brand, who called for Americans to vote for Democratic nominee Barack Obama in the presidential elections, claimed censors at the channel had already toned down his routine and vetoed several jokes.

He said: "I had John McCain gags pulled. And they asked me to tone down the gags about Sarah Palin. I wanted to say she was forcing her teenage daughter to have a baby because she is so anti-abortion.

"But also, as a Republican she is pro-execution so she is going to give her the electric chair for being a little slut.

"They weren't keen on that one."

Gee, I wonder why?

MTV Clown Calls Bush 'Retarded Cowboy'

Not only that, he promotes the myth that you must be racist if you don't vote for Barack Obama.

Just keep it up, folks. Keep it up.

Get a good look at this idiot's photo. And he's calling people retarded.

If his aim was to be noticed by America, Russell Brand more than achieved his goal last night as he ranted that President Bush was a “retarded cowboy” while hosting the MTV awards.

The British comedian, who is a virtual unknown in America, left the crème of the music world stunned as he championed Barack Obama, ran down Bush and made lewd jokes about the Christian pop band Jonas Brothers.

Ignoring the renowned patriotism of Americans, Brand told the Hollywood audience they must vote for Barrack Obama “on behalf of the world”, before insinuating that America had lower standards than Britain when it came to picking leaders.

"Some people, I think they're called racists, say America is not ready for a black president.

"But I know America to be a forward thinking country because otherwise why would you have let that retard and cowboy fella be president for eight years?

"We were very impressed. We thought it was nice of you to let him have a go, because, in England, he wouldn't be trusted with a pair of scissors."

Members of the studio audience, including Britney Spears, who was making a much-hyped comeback appearance, and Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus, looked horrified at Brand’s jokes.

Michelle Malkin has a rundown.

It won't be long until the suits at Viacom whine about censorship.

MTV Launches Arab Channel

This ought to go over well with the Religion of Peace.

MTV hopes hip-hop and reality television tailored and sanitised for the Middle East region will draw young Arabs away from dozens of locally produced music video channels that already dominate the market to a new regional version of the pop-culture channel.

MTV Arabia, which official launched over the weekend, will feature 60 per cent international music, 40pc Arabic music and local adaptations of the channel's popular non-music shows.

But MTV, which is known for airing provocative videos featuring scantily clad women, says its Arab version will show less bare skin and profanity.

"When we come to people's homes, we want to earn their respect," said Abdullatif Al Sayegh, chief executive of Arab Media Group, which along with MTV Networks International, owns MTV Arabia.

He explained that there will be "culturally sensitive editors going through content of the programming."

The station aired a pre-taped show featuring Grammy award-winning rapper and actor Ludacris, Senegalese-born soul superstar Akon, Lebanese rapper Karl Wolf and an Emirates underground hip-hop band Desert Heat.

Ironic how when Americans complain about profanity, they're ridiculed, yet now they'll show the proper sensitivity when airing in the Middle East.

UPDATE: More from Michelle Malkin.