This Sunday marks the 27th annual MTV Video Music Awards, as well as the one-year anniversary of the infamous Kanye West-Taylor Swift incident.

West instantly and rightfully received harsh backlash for his actions, but he actually did Miss Swift a favor. Before you make that face and start calling me names — stop yourself. Think back to those few seconds right before Kanye stormed the stage. Yes, that moment right after Taylor’s name was announced. What was your first reaction? It was ‘WTF,’ wasn’t it?

Kanye did Taylor a huge favor. A favor anyone who has ever received an award the public didn’t think they deserved, would have prayed for.

For the record, I’d like to state that I am a huge Tay-tay fan. Her first single ‘Tim McGraw’ never fails to make me smile, and I’ve pretty much listened to ‘Mine’ on repeat since it was released over a month ago.  Actually, I’m listening to it right now.

Regardless, I’m not looking to attack her or undermine her success. Since she hit the country scene in 2008, home girl has received 106 nominations from 18 award shows, racking up over 70 wins. She’s undoubtedly talented, and there is no denying that 2009 was her year. Two CMTs, two ACMs, four Grammys, five CMAs, I don’t feel like continuing, but you catch my drift — girl definitely knows how to crank out the hits.

I love ‘You Belong With Me,’ but let’s be real, the music video never really had VMA written all over it.

Kayne’s outburst saved Taylor from the harsh grasps of critics everywhere. Since the rest of the 2009 VMAs pretty much turned out as predicted, Swift would have been the first one on whom they pounced. But she got to keep her pride (and her Moonman) as we all shook our heads at that asshole, West, for picking on country music’s sweetheart.

And in addition to doing Swift a favor, he’s actually his own PR genius. He knew exactly what he was doing when he stormed the stage. By immediately apologizing, he got to be the big bad wolf, and then the good guy because he admitted how wrong he was.

‘Coincidentally,’ he was scheduled to appear on Jay Leno later in the week. The perfect opportunity for him to express how ‘ashamed’ he was for his actions.

Ultimately, he helped put the VMAs back on the radar.  Everyone had basically forgotten about the scandalous Madonna-Britney kiss from 2003, and the VMAs were turning back into just another awards show. West took it upon himself to stir the pot back up.

And whatever your opinion of him or his antics, you can’t deny that West is still the man.

Who else has the balls to compare himself to Jesus? Yeah, his 2006 comment had the country questioning his sanity, but if you’re going to compare yourself to anyone, it might as well be Jesus.

And if you haven’t already started following him on Twitter, you’ll be happy to know that since Sept. 4, he’s been busy tweeting his apologies toward Taylor, her family, her fans, his fans, the press, etc. Tweeting every three minutes, nonetheless.

Finally, ‘Graduation’ is easily one of the best hip-hop albums of the decade, and one of the few albums I own in which I can genuinely say I love every song.

Then again, my iTunes ‘Most Recently Played’ list includes the soundtrack from the first season of Glee, in addition to Miley Cyrus’s ‘Party in the USA,’ so I’m not sure if I should be commenting on what qualifies as musical genius.

In the end, Kanye got the attention (and is performing at Sunday’s VMAs), Taylor got America’s continued affection and Beyonce walked away with Video of the Year. Happily-ever-afters really do exist.

Actually, we could all learn a valuable lesson from Kanye. Next time you see someone in need, redirect the attention and make an ass out of yourself. You’ll have time to apologize later.

So, Kanye, man, keep doing your thing. I got your back.

Lauren Tousignant is a junior communications and rhetorical studies and writing major. She is the opinion editor at The Daily Orange, where her column appears occasionally. She can be reached letousig@syr.edu. 

Published on September 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm