Outspoken rapper KAYE WEST caused controversy when he stormed the stage to protest at Taylor Swift winning an award over Beyonce.

The rapper invaded the stage durng Taylor's acceptance speech and told the auditorium that Beyonce should have been the winner - leaving poor old Taylor in tears backastage.

Second before Kanye's outburst, Taylor clutched her ‘Moonman' trophy and told the crowd: "Thank you so much! I always dreamed about what it would be like to maybe win one of these some day, but I never actually thought it would have happened. I sing country music so thank you so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA award."

But before she could continue, Kaney ‘Rude Dude' West broke in. "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'll let you finish, but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!"

Taylor and the audience were left stunned, as the cameras captured an astonished and horrified Beyoncé still in her seat. Soon after, the audience gave a standing ovation in support of Swift.

But gracious Beyonce was determined to make it up to the young star and invited her up on stage to share her award for Best Video Of The Year - the most coveted prize of the evening.

She told the audience: "I remember being 17 years old, up for my first MTV award with Destiny's Child and it was one of the most exciting moments in my life, so I'd like for Taylor to come out and have her moment."

Swift strolled onstage to a standing ovation and quipped, "Maybe we could try this again," before making the acceptance speech she would have earlier - if rude West had allowed her to finish. 

As well as Kanye West, show host Russell Brand and GaGa provided the controversy - comic Brand made lewd references about Katy Perry, GaGa, Beyonce and Swift, and GaGa shocked by pretending to die in a bloody mess onstage at Radio City Music Hall.

Her performance of Paparazzi, though a talking point, was not the night's live highlight - that belonged to Beyonce, who took the stage with 30 lookalikes to sing and dance her way through megahit Single Ladies.

Meanwhile, Pink also stunned with a gymnastic, high-flying show, wearing a pink heart covering the nipple on her exposed left breast and Beyonce's husband Jay-Z concluded the performances with an Alicia Keys collaboration on New York anthem Empire State of Mind.

Among the tributes, double prize winner Eminem dedicated his Best Hip Hop Video trophy to late pal Proof and house act Wale took a moment to remember Adam 'DJ AM' Goldstein, who was part of the house band last year.

But the VMAs opened and closed with the biggest tribute to Michael Jackson - Madonna and Janet Jackson honoured the King of Pop at the beginning of the show and the first trailer for his This Is It concert rehearsal movie closed it.