MICHAEL JACKSON BLOWUP: MTV TAKES AWAY AWARD IT NEVER GAVE?
Is he, or isn't he...
MTV reported on its website late Thursday it had not presented Michael Jackson with "artist of the millennium" honors at the 2002 Video Music Awards -- even though the pop star believed he had accepted such an award on live TV!
"When I was a little boy in Indiana, if someone had told me that one day I'd be getting the Artist of the Millennium award, I wouldn't have believed it," Jackson told the audience after receiving a standing ovation.
"I can't believe it."
Don't believe it.
"There is no such honor," MTV's Joe D'Angelo quickly reported on MTV.COM, noting how Jackson was very confused.
On the morning after the night before a Jackson source fumed to DRUDGE: "Britney handed him the award! It was silver with a red bow...
"What do they mean, there is 'no such award'... What was the award then? This is no way to treat the artist which put MTV on the map!"
MTV explained the confusion in a report on MTV.COM, placing blame for the cross-cables on the stars.
"Britney Spears introduced birthday boy Michael Jackson and presented him with a tiered cake. She referred to Jackson as 'the artist of the millennium,' and Jackson thought he actually won an award by that name, though no such award exists."
But elsewhere on MTV.COM, the network does trumpet: "Michael Jackson's unprecedented Artist of the Millennium award."
And the winner is...
