Even by the standards of the anything-goes MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West's hijacking of country-pop sweetheart Taylor Swift's speech at the Sunday night ceremony was particularly brutal.  

Kanye West takes the microphone from Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday.

The pre-show buzz had focused on the highly anticipated tribute to the late Michael Jackson, but West's disruption stole the spotlight.

A giddy Swift was in the midst of her acceptance speech for Best Female Video when the often-mercurial West rushed onstage, grabbed her microphone and let loose an outburst on behalf of singer Beyonce Knowles, who had lost out in that category.

But audiences who stayed tuned until the end of the broadcast were treated to a touching bookend: Knowles, the night's top winner, invited Swift onstage and gave the teen singer her moment in the spotlight.

"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 of my life," Knowles said, referring to the girl group with which she had her start. "So I would like for Taylor to come out and have her moment."

Speaking to reporters later, Swift was understated about her take on the disruption.

"I was excited to be onstage because I just won the award. And then I was excited that Kanye West was onstage. Then, I wasn't excited anymore," she said.

Best Video of the Year: "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," Beyonce

Best New Artist: Lady Gaga

Best Male Video: "Live Your Life," T.I. featuring Rihanna

Best Female Video: "You Belong With Me," Taylor Swift

Best Pop Video: "Womanizer," Britney Spears

Best Hip-Hop Video: "We Made You," Eminem

Best Rock Video: "21 Guns," Green Day

Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman): "Sabotage," Beastie Boys

Best Breakthrough Video: "Lessons Learned," Matt and Kim

MTV told journalists the West-Swift incident was not planned -- a point it had to stress after a walkout by singer Eminem at last year's event turned out to be staged.

Hip-hop superstar West, who was pictured before the ceremony swigging a bottle of Cognac, was escorted from the building after the rant, the network said.

Soon after, an apology to Swift appeared on his blog:

"I'm sooooo sorry to Taylor Swift and her fans and her mom," the message said in all caps. "I spoke to her mother right after and she said the same thing my mother would've said. She is very talented! ... I'm in the wrong for going on stage and taking away from her moment!"

So went the 2009 edition of the awards, a show that is historically less remembered for its winners than for its antics.

And as usual, the Sunday night spectacle, hosted by a not-particularly funny Russell Brand, delivered:

• Pink dangled upside down from the rafters as she belted out "Sober" -- upping the ante from last year, when she shimmied down a bed sheet from a second-story fire escape.

• Lady Gaga, apparently pressing home her feelings about celebrity photographers, dabbed at fake blood that dripped from her ribcage and smeared it on her face as she sang "Paparazzi."

• And Swift took the subway, from the 42nd Street station to a stage outside the show venue Radio City Music Hall, all the while singing "You Belong With Me."

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