Thank goodness for TMZ, because now we have audio of President Obama saying that Kanye West was a "jackass" for interrupting Taylor Swift's MTV Video Music Award speech and saying that Beyonce's video was way better. Barry said, "I thought that was really inappropriate... He's a jackass." Obama is then heard asking, "Where's the pool?" which TMZ analyzes, "Presumably, he was worried the joke would go wide. He noted the last time that happened, he got burned for killing a fly." Obama also added, "C'mon guys. Cut the president some slack. I've got a lot of other stuff on my plate." White House spokesman Bill Burton told the press, "Look, I'm not going to get into what the President had to say in an off-the-record conversation. But you should see what [White House chief of staff] Rahm [Emanuel] said about it." In other news, West apologized to Swift, who said he was sincere. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week:
more ›

Taking time out of his usual schedule running NYC and counting his money, Mayor Bloomberg appeared on MTV in (a taped segment) to hype the MTV Video Music Awards, which are back in NYC this year. Yup, that's why it's messy around Radio City Music Hall and that's why all these celebrities and "celebrities" (LC from The Hills, we're talking to you) are in town. Famous New Yorkers are asked who they think will win the Video of the Year Award - Pat Kiernan of NY1, Wendy Williams, the Naked Cowboy, Donald Trump. As Newsday points out, the Mayor was flanked by the "several young members of his staff" (like Ed Skyler?) and threw his support behind Shakira in a faux-deliberation in front of a computer:

"As mayor of New York, this really is a tough one. I could go with Christina; she was born in New York... I could go with Madonna; she made it big here in New York... I think I'm going to have to go with Shakira. Those hips don't lie."

MTV is going to broadcast the 2006 awards. Now, Gothamist will use our cranky and cliche cards: We don't remember the last time we saw a video on MTV! And we're kind of upset at MTV for making stars out of people who are worthless, although the horrifying pleasure we get when we watch My Sweet 16 almost balances that out. But the show itself is usually trippy fun to watch - whether it's a lesbian kiss or Kiss playing under the Brooklyn Bridge - and the hosting is good (we heart you, Chris Rock). The president of MTV, Christina Norman explained, "New York City is our hometown, and we are really looking to showcase the music, culture, and people from every borough of this amazing city on TV, online, broadband, and wireless to fans around the globe." Translation: You can watch the show on TV, watch clips on your TV, get messages sent to your phone - basically drown yourself in knowing what Beyonce is wearing or if James Blunt will falsetto. What would be brilliant is for musical acts to perform in all five boroughs (yes, even Staten Island). This year, the event will be on August 31 (we think the show was moved up for distance between the show's excess and September 11 - we definitely remember that in 1999, the show was on September 9), and similar to the way the city handled the Country Music Awards this year, there will be many concerts and events leading up to the show. more ›

- Midtown cleaning gondola accident more ›

Hey Ya! won four awards; there was a day when Gothamist didn't think we could get tired of Hey Ya! by Outkast, but it seems that day came like two or three months ago. We're sad that Jay-Z's incredibly beautiful and brutal video 99 Problems won most of its awards in the pre-show; directed by Mark Romanek, it shows Jay-Z in Brooklyn with a motley cast of supporting character, in a last hurrah of sorts. See the video on Romanek's site here. And our other Larry-King-in-USA-Today type thoughts:
more ›