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Kanye Steals the Spotlight

Kanye Steals the Spotlight

Date: Sep 25 2009

Themes: News

Grammar: Contractions and Abbreviations

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Last week, Taylor Swift’s dream came true when she won an MTV Video Music Award. But her dream was rudely interrupted when Kanye West grabbed the microphone from her and said that Beyonce should have won instead.

This isn’t the first time Kanye has created a controversy by being outspoken. And the VMAs have always included plenty of surprises, like when Madonna and Britney Spears kissed on stage. But this time Kanye may have crossed the line from outspoken to just plain mean. Find out what Devan and Jason think about the incident.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Devan

Jason

Jason

Devan:  So, last night I was watching the MTV Video Music Awards. Did you see what happened?

Jason:  No.

Devan:  With Kanye West?

Jason:  What did he do?

Devan:  What a brat. He totally stole the spotlight from Taylor Swift as she was accepting her award for Best Female Performance.

Jason:  Isn’t it cool that she won, I mean like a country singer winning a VMA?

Devan:  It was really cool, and she was really excited. But he decided to cause a stir by going up and grabbing the microphone from her while she was making her speech, and she was totally touched. And he just had this huge outburst, saying he thought Beyonce deserved to win.

Jason:  Woah! How did he even get up there and get the microphone?

Devan:  That’s what they were saying, they were like why didn’t security stop him?

Jason:  Apparently Kanye can just do whatever he wants.

Devan:  Apparently. But at the end Beyonce acted like a real class act when she won her award, because she brought Taylor back on stage and let her make her acceptance speech that Kanye ruined before.

Jason:  Woah. Do you think there’s any chance it’s a publicity stunt?

Devan:  Absolutely not.

Jason:  He was just really hurt that Beyonce didn’t win?

Devan:  He was just drunk, I think.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Devan saw Kanye West interrupt Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMAs to say that Beyonce should have won instead. Devan thinks Kanye acted like a brat. She and Jason are surprised that Kanye wasn’t stopped by security.

Later in the night, Beyonce won a different award. She brought Taylor Swift up onto the stage with her so the young country singer could have another chance to give her speech. Devan thinks Beyonce acted classy.

What do you think about Kanye’s behavior? Has anyone ever stolen the spotlight from you?

 

Comments

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Jin Ju

Jin Ju

Kazakhstan

Well…that was plain rude…Taylor Swift deserved to be a winner! Her songs are awesome!!!

01:01 PM Sep 25 2009 |

Christoph07

Germany

I like the vocabulary publicity stunt. And i believe in it. MTV is very good in this. And these kind of "important" persons need these shows like the air to breath. Maybe not all had known about this publicity stunt. So not all had to play a surprise and it was not a totally fake.

12:50 PM Sep 25 2009 |

Naomi1010

Naomi1010

Taiwan

I think Kanye was a bit rude to seal Taylor's mic while she was still giving a speech to the audience!!!

12:33 PM Sep 25 2009 |

Emzzie

Emzzie

United Kingdom

i think thats is out of order taylor swift deserves to win sometime .

10:14 AM Sep 25 2009 |

ridz

ridz

Pakistan

well, kanye west shudnt do tht bcz taylor swift ve got woteva she eas deservin but in a nutshell i ve got da central idea ova hea tht he was just frustrated n feelin him down but he was not tht much drunk f0 w0teva he did with da taylor..Cry

09:32 AM Sep 25 2009 |

Shinichi Lover

Bahrain

Of course it's bad behavior.. and I've seen many situations like this! He is a selfish!

07:56 AM Sep 25 2009 |

julywidiawati

Indonesia

Kanye was suck. He is just an artist without IQ, I never found someone stolen the spotlight from me..<!-Session data->

07:10 AM Sep 25 2009 |

daniel-macky2008

China

I feel pity for Taylor for facing up to such an embarrasement from a freak like West. I think serious action should be taken against West.This really shows that his parents did not give him a good home trainning. I hate him from now onward, i don’t want to even hear about him anymore.The judges were not foolish to have chosen Taylor instead of Beyonce.West should go back home and learn some public manners or higher a good teacher to teach him how to behave in public.

05:20 AM Sep 25 2009 |

Simon terminator

India

I thing she is nut.

04:19 AM Sep 25 2009 |

Whitney S

Whitney S

Colombia

I saw this on MTV and I was like this :Surprised

OMG! I would have died If I was her…

04:12 AM Sep 25 2009 |

vic2326*

Peru

I agree with devan he was just drunk or his lithium levels was very low.

02:40 AM Sep 25 2009 |

izac

izac

South Korea

Kanye is very rude. I don’t understand his action.
Maybe he thought that Beyonce is the better than taylor.

01:58 AM Sep 25 2009 |

Ca_Brazil

Ca_Brazil

Brazil

He was totally inconvenient, like the president Obama said, "he was a jackass".

01:00 AM Sep 25 2009 |

jessicababi

China

Beyonce is totaly a class out.

12:50 AM Sep 25 2009 |

wIwId

wIwId

Indonesia

Taylor swift deserves this award! >.<

12:04 AM Sep 25 2009 |

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