At first, it seemed like just a coincidence. The day after Lady GaGa took discharged service members with her on the red carpet to the Video Music Awards and gave a shout-out to repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell during an acceptance speech, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scheduled a Senate vote on the rule that bars openly gay servicemembers. But now Reid’s campaign is tweeting GaGa that they are listening to her concerns about DADT.

Linsday Lohan made her post-jail return tonight at MTV’s Video Music Awards, during a pre-taped opening starring host Chelsea Handler.

Lohan poked fun at herself by staging an impromptu intervention with Handler.

Twitter is the new Oprah. Just ahead of next Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards Kanye West spent yesterday penning a long apology to Taylor Swift on Twitter. And I mean long. As in 70-plus tweets. Says Kanye: “I’ve hurt, I’ve bled, I’ve learned. I only want to do good. I am passionate I am human I am real. I wish I could meet every hater.” Also: “Beyonce didn’t need that. MTV didn’t need that and Taylor and her family friends and fans definitely didn’t want or need that.” Also, he wrote her a new song.

TMZ has posted the audio of President Obama referring to Kanye West as a “jackass.” It’s an interesting listen for a number of reasons, not the least of which is whether it was clear to everyone that the remark was of the record. Moreover, it leaves one wondering whether the whole episode will actually work out in Obama’s favor?

After reading Steve Krakauer’s account of Kanye West’s outburst at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, along with some priceless celebrity reactions, I was on Twitter when this tweet caught my eye. Hip-hop writer and “Media Assassin” Harry Allen, re-tweeting another tweep named Lemekh, had this to say:

President Obama just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to holding the nation’s attention with details of his health care plan. Perhaps the President should embrace an ‘if you can’t beat’em, join’em’ mentality and stage his own outburst. It may be a good last resort before all is lost. Consider this.

This week was full of shout-outs, mostly of the incongruous, impolite variety. First Joe Wilson at the Obama’s joint-session health care talk. Then Kanye West at last night’s Video Music Awards. And somewhere in the middle, Serena Williams did a little shouting-out of her own. In this video, Kanye and Wilson collide.

It makes sense that everyone is talking about last night’s MTV Video Music Awards for reasons other than the actual videos. This is MTV in 2009, and videos are low on the priority list.

Instead, people are talking about the performances – Janet Jackson tribute to her brother, Lady Gaga‘s bloody fantasy sequence. But mainly, it’s how Kanye West was even more of an ass than usual.