One music star has offered a heartfelt, eloquent apology for rushing the stage at the MTV VMAs – but it wasn't Kanye West. Pint-sized rapper Lil Mama apologised for bursting onstage during a performance by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, saying she was overcome with the excitement of "my two icons singing about New York".
Lil Mama's gaffe came at the end of Sunday's televised ceremony, during the performers' closing rendition of Empire State of Mind. Moments after, Jay-Z joked that she was "T-Paining" and gestured for her to "chill", Lil Mama was there among the headliners, striking a pose for the cameras.
"I did not mean any disrespect towards Jay-Z or Alicia Keys," Lil Mama said in a statement yesterday. "I admire them and look up to them as role models. Empire State of Mind had my emotions running high. In that moment I came up onstage to celebrate my two icons singing about NY."
Lucky for Lil Mama, her modest faux pas was overshadowed by West's great, gobsmacking foot-in-mouth moment, when he interrupted Taylor Swift's award acceptance speech. Still, that didn't stop hundreds of amateur comedians from taking to Twitter, making "Lil Mama is" one of yesterday's top trending topics. "#lilmamais JayZ's hypeman, she jus got there alil late," suggested one user. Another wrote: "#lilmamais hiding near a stage somewhere, waiting on #Kanye to give her the signal."
