Not stooping to conquer: Taylor Swift performed a song about Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards last night in which she offered the singer an olive branch following last year's infamous stage-storming moment
Swift calls Kanye an 'innocent' in her song as he 'toasts the a**holes'
Lady Gaga biggest winner of the night with eight Moonman awards
Foul-mouthed host Chelsea Handler outdoes last year's presenter Brand
Many were expecting this year's MTV Video Music Awards to be the night Taylor Swift got her revenge on Kanye West.
But the country singer decided not to stoop to conquer, with her highly anticipated song about West serving as an olive branch rather than a slap in the face.
The 20-year-old delivered a poignant and powerful ode at Sunday's ceremony in downtown Los Angeles which, instead of criticising him, sympathised with his difficult time in the spotlight since he infamously stormed the stage as she accepted an award last year.
Scroll down for full list of winners...
Referring to himself? Kanye closed the show with his new song Runaway, with the crude lyrics referring to 'toasting the douche bags, a**holes' and 'scumbags'
Kanye made an kind of double-handed apology in his separate performance which closed the show, with his crude lyrics proclaiming: 'Let's have a toast to the douche bags, a**holes, scum bags and j**k offs.'
While his words could have been taken as an apparent attempt at self-deprecation, it was Taylor who centred on West's own admissions that his ego has often gotten in his own way.
'Thirty-two and still growing up now; who you are is not what you did,' she sang softly, adding: 'You're still an innocent.'
Making a comeback: Taylore was barefoot and styled like a Sixties screen siren for her performance while Kanye was dressed in a stand-out red suit
The performances came on a night which saw Lady Gaga emerge as the big winner of the night, with eight awards. She collected three onstage at the ceremony for Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video of the Year - all for her hit song Bad Romance.
Gaga, 24, also collected Moonman awards before the ceremony aired, including ones for Best Dance Music Video for Bad Romance, and Best Collaboration for Telephone, featuring Beyonce.
The outrageous singer, who was nominated in 13 categories, picked up the biggest prize of the night, Video of the Year, wearing an outfit sure to anger the PETA-crowd: a dress and chapeau that appeared to be made of cuts of meat.
Big winner: Lady Gaga won eight awards, collecting three onstage at the ceremony at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Seen right accepting the Moonman award for Best Female Video and, right, an outfit change later collecting the Best Pop Video gong. Both outfits were design by the late Alexander McQueen
Thank you: She collected the most prestigious award, Video of the Year, also for Bad Romance, from pop icon Cher who looked incredible for her age at 64
Another larger-than-life diva from another generation presented Gaga with her trophy - 64-year-old Cher, looking in incredible in a see-through back outfit.
Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, making no less than three outfit changes during the evening.
Tearfully accepting her gong, she revealed her next record would be called Born This Way, before giving a short rendition.
Gaga's eight wins ties with A-ha's Take on Me in 1986 for the second highest number of wins in one night. British rocker Peter Gabriel set the record of nine competitive wins in 1987 for his innovative video Sledgehammer.
Rapper Eminem, who opened the show with a medley of his hits Not Afraid and Love the Way you Lie, which he performed with Rihanna, picked up eight nominations, winning in two categories.
He collected Moonman awards for Best Male Video and Best Hip Hop Video for Not Afraid.
Doubleact: Rihanna and Eminem performed their duet Love The Way You Lie to open the ceremony
What a show: Rihanna wore a red wig and white bra with tutu, teamed with black boots. Eminem also won the awards for Best Male Video and Best Hip Hop Video for Not Afraid
What a scene: The audience watch on as the glitzy ceremony gets underway
Other winners included the band 30 Seconds to Mars, who won in the Best Rock Video category for Kings and Queens and Justin Bieber, who beat off competition from Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha to win Best New Artist for his video Baby.
Bad-girl comedian and host of the evening Chelsea Handler, of the Chelsea Lately Show, arrived onstage, doing a hilarious send-up of Lady Gaga.
Dancing to Bad Romance, she was lowered on to the stage inside the Nokia Theatre LA Live in an over-the-top gown, complete with a model house on her head.
A splash of British flavour: Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine performed The Dog Days Are Over in a flowing light pink gown
Star turn: Usher took to a vinyl-themed stage with a host of scantily clad women to perform his latest track, DJ Got Us Falling In Love
Spectacle: His performance came complete with a spectacular laser display and an army of dancers
Clearly trying to out do last year's host, Russell Brand, Chelsea cracked all manner of crude jokes.
She joined some of the Jersey Shore gang in a hot tub between performances, before jumping out with a fake pregnant belly saying she was off to the STD clinic.
A pre-taped portion of her opening featured the host getting spanked multiple times by show participants in a backstage hallway before running into the recently freed Lindsay Lohan, who also gave her a slap around the face.
Bieber fever: Justin Bieber jumped out of a car and took to an outside stage to perform his hit track Baby
Check out the moves: The 16-year-year-old singer was performing just outside the Nokia Theatre where he put on a surprise rehearsal on Saturday
Awarded: Justin accepted the Best New Artist award from presenter Victoria Justice
'Have you been drinking?' Lohan demanded from Handler, who was wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet around her ankle, in reference to Lohan's recent legal troubles.
'Do you think anyone wants to work with a drunk? Take it from me! They don't,' Lohan added.
Handler, who also implored winners to be on their worst behaviour, wasted little time reminding the audience of last year's big controversy, when rapper Kanye West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech.
She described the issue as 'the big black elephant in the room' before demonstrating how to attack anyone who sabotages the stage on someone dressed in a full red padded outfit.
Treble the fun: Swizz Beatz, left, Mary J. Blige, and Drake took to the stage as they sang together
Comedy: Host Chelsea Handler gets out of a hot tub with a fake pregnant belly after joining the cast of Jersey Shore in an onstage hot tub, joking she was going to pay a visit to the STD clinic
Swift's dramatic performance delivered on the hype promised from a sequel to last year's incident when West marred Swift's acceptance speech for best female video by jumping onstage and insisting the award should have gone to Beyonce.
In the aftermath, West endured intense backlash, despite an apology, as well as a serious dent in his career that has yet to be ironed out.
Last week on Twitter, West poured out his heart, again apologizing to Swift and saying how much he had suffered since the incident, and adding that he had grown.
While Swift is known for skewering those who have done her wrong, for West, she certainly decided to take a different tact, with another line of her song, written earlier this year preaching forgiveness: 'Everyone of us has messed up too ... I hope you remember today is never too late to be brand new.'
Hilarious: Handler arrived on stage doing a hilarious send-up of Lady Gaga, with a model house on top of her head and an over-the-top dress
Good laugh: In Gaga-style, Handler was flanked by an army of scantily clad male backing dancers as she danced to Bad Romance
Action: Chelsea demonstrates how to tackle any awards saboteurs, in reference to last year's episode with Taylor Swift and Kanye West
And the winners are...
Collaboration: Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce, Telephone Female video: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance Male video: Eminem, Not Afraid Hip-hop video: Eminem, Not Afraid New artist: Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris, Baby Pop video: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance Rock video: 30 Seconds to Mars, Kings and Queens Dance music video: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance Art direction: Florence and the Machine, Dog Days Are Over Choreography: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance Cinematography: Jay Z and Alicia Keys, Empire State of Mind Direction: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance Editing: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance Special effects: Muse, Uprising Breakthrough video: The Black Keys, Tighten Up Video of the year: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance
Not stooping to conquer: Taylor Swift performed a song about Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards last night in which she offered the singer an olive branch following last year's infamous stage-storming moment
Referring to himself? Kanye closed the show with his new song Runaway, with the crude lyrics referring to 'toasting the douche bags, a**holes' and 'scumbags'
Making a comeback: Taylore was barefoot and styled like a Sixties screen siren for her performance while Kanye was dressed in a stand-out red suit
Big winner: Lady Gaga won eight awards, collecting three onstage at the ceremony at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Seen right accepting the Moonman award for Best Female Video and, right, an outfit change later collecting the Best Pop Video gong. Both outfits were design by the late Alexander McQueen
Thank you: She collected the most prestigious award, Video of the Year, also for Bad Romance, from pop icon Cher who looked incredible for her age at 64
Doubleact: Rihanna and Eminem performed their duet Love The Way You Lie to open the ceremony
What a show: Rihanna wore a red wig and white bra with tutu, teamed with black boots. Eminem also won the awards for Best Male Video and Best Hip Hop Video for Not Afraid
What a scene: The audience watch on as the glitzy ceremony gets underway
A splash of British flavour: Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine performed The Dog Days Are Over in a flowing light pink gown
Star turn: Usher took to a vinyl-themed stage with a host of scantily clad women to perform his latest track, DJ Got Us Falling In Love
Spectacle: His performance came complete with a spectacular laser display and an army of dancers
Bieber fever: Justin Bieber jumped out of a car and took to an outside stage to perform his hit track Baby
Check out the moves: The 16-year-year-old singer was performing just outside the Nokia Theatre where he put on a surprise rehearsal on Saturday
Awarded: Justin accepted the Best New Artist award from presenter Victoria Justice
Treble the fun: Swizz Beatz, left, Mary J. Blige, and Drake took to the stage as they sang together
Comedy: Host Chelsea Handler gets out of a hot tub with a fake pregnant belly after joining the cast of Jersey Shore in an onstage hot tub, joking she was going to pay a visit to the STD clinic
Hilarious: Handler arrived on stage doing a hilarious send-up of Lady Gaga, with a model house on top of her head and an over-the-top dress
Good laugh: In Gaga-style, Handler was flanked by an army of scantily clad male backing dancers as she danced to Bad Romance
Action: Chelsea demonstrates how to tackle any awards saboteurs, in reference to last year's episode with Taylor Swift and Kanye West
