Taylor Swift Said a Bad Word

Today in celebrity gossip: Taylor Swift was caught on camera saying a swear word, Miley Cyrus danced suggestively, and Drake and Rihanna hung out.

Last night in the old borough of Breukelen, a misty Dutch settlement known for its fish smell and dangerous characters, MTV hosted the Videoed Music Awards, a celebration of the year in popular music. During the evening — which consisted of some music performances and a few awards but mostly people in their 20s, 30s, and in some cases 40s posing with desperate looks on their faces, wanting so very much for teenagers to like them — the band One Direction presented an award. It was actually the first award of the night. And during their presentation the young, but not that young, singer Taylor Swift, who dated one of the members of One Direction, could be seen mouthing, "Shut the f--k up." Presumably directed toward the young lad, the one called Harry, speaking on stage. Taylor Swift swore. That's where I was going with all of this. That's the end game. The simple fact is that Taylor Swift made a swear word with her mouth and now everyone is freakin' out. Was she even talking about Harry? Or was she shushing the crowd? Oh and she said this to her friend, fellow VMA winner Selena Gomez, so maybe she was even saying it to her? It's unclear. There's a video for you to watch, so you can decide for yourself. Who did Taylor Swift want to shut the f--k up? And, perhaps more importantly, does Swift, who thanked an ex-boyfriend (believed to be Jake Gyllenhaal) for inspiring the angry song she won a trophy for, maybe need to let her relationships flourish and die and rot and disappear away from all the cameras? Don't we know an awful lot about her life, because she's told us, in so many little clues and asides, mysteries and riddles? She is basically one half of that couple in high school who has a very bad breakup and the whole grade knows. And you're interested but you also sort of resent it, because there's an assumption coursing just below the surface that you should know because they are more important than you, their drama more vital than whatever sad dump of a story you have. Sometimes it feels like Taylor Swift does not care about us. So should we care about her? I don't f--king know. I just f--king don't. [Us Weekly]

Also at the Videos & Music Awards, the young person "Miley Cyrus" performed a number with Robin Thicke, son of Alan Thicke, and uh oh, she got sexy. She did! She let her tongue go wagging and did a little boot-scoot butt dance with Thicke and everyone was shocked. None more so than the Smith family, father Will and mother Jada and children Willow and Jaden. They were sitting in the audience and were photographed going "WTF" to each other as Miley did her rebellious wriggling on stage. There were other celebrities, both at the show and on Twitter, who expressed discomfort with Cyrus's display, which included rubbing herself suggestively with a giant foam novelty finger, which is completely absurd for the most part. No one bats an eyelash when Justin Bieber does a crotch grab or thrust or whatever other "Hey, look, I have a penis" stuff he's started doing since he became an older teen. And yet Miley Cyrus does one silly dance, one she'll probably look back on with the odd mix of giddy pride and embarrassment that we all feel when we think about things we did when we were 20, and the nation freaks out. I think Cyrus and any young person, boy or girl, would probably ultimately be happier exploring their sexuality if not in private certainly not in front of millions of people, but if that's what Miley Cyrus wants to do, then so be it. Isn't that OK? Shouldn't we make that a safe thing to do, rather than post photos of grown adults and their small children being utterly scandalized by some young adult's harmless writhing? Our sexual culture is completely f--ked, isn't it? It really is. Poor girls. Mostly this affects girls, doesn't it. Dance on, Miley. It's fine. Don't listen to these patriarchal prudes. Have fun. I know that it's frustrating that people are upset about you and not the 36-year-old man grinding into you while singing a song that sort of advocates date rape, but move past that, be better than that, and live your damn dancing life. [Daily Mail]

Before these VMAs, all the way back on Friday, the stars had to get dinner. One such star, Canadian actor and rapper Aubrey Graham, got a meal at the Lower East Side trend-spot Beauty & Essex. Graham, who played basketball star Jimmy Brooks for 145 episodes of cult teen soap Degrassi: The Next Generation, was eating with some friends, and then one very special friend showed up. Rihanna, queen of Barbados, came in by herself and sat with Graham and his group, dancing and laughing and having a generally fun night. This is all rather surprising considering that Graham and Rihanna's ex, Christopher Brown, got in a bottle-hurling fight at a nightclub less than a year ago. But I suppose that doesn't mean a thing for Graham and Rihanna's relationship. They had fun at the restaurant, left separately, and left a $500 tip. Then the restaurant fell quiet and it was time to go home. [Page Six]

Khloe Kardashian, one of those things, is apparently splitting up with her husband, an adult man who makes his living playing basketed-ball with his friends. That man's name is Lamar Odom, and what the gossip reports are saying is that he has a problem with drugs. The problem has gotten bad enough that Kardashian has kicked him out of the house, telling him to get clean or stay gone. Nothing formal has happened yet, vis a vis divorce filings and whatnot, so maybe they can still patch things up. Though. I mean. What will life be if they don't. Y'know? Will anything change for us? Probably not. [TMZ]

Katie Holmes had a fun night in the Hamptons on Saturday. She went to a benefit party and was heard saying, "I haven’t had such a good time in so long." She was dancing and talking to her pal Jamie Foxx, apparently they have been friends for a long time (since Collateral maybe?), and having a grand old time. Meanwhile Tom Cruise was sitting in a pitch black room in London laughing and clapping and yelling "Spaaaaaace!!!!" into the dark. So everyone had a nice Saturday. [Page Six]