I was pretty surprised over how much debate there was yesterday on the Taylor Swift and Kanye West VMAs performances story. In my opinion, Kanye was still a douche and Taylor was still hurt by him crashing her acceptance speech at last year’s ceremony. Many of you said that Taylor had more than benefited from that whole debacle and that she should get over it. Her pain seemed as genuine to me as Kanye reveling in his assh*le status and telling us to drink to it. I liked how commenter Atticus wrote that Taylor is young, which explains how affected she was by the incident. “Taylor Swift was 19 when the ‘moon man hijacking’ happened. Of course it was a big deal to her, and of course she’s going to be dramatic about it – she was 19! Now she’s 20! When I read my journals from those ages I just shake my head and think, good Lord, the melodrama.” Now E! has a story that may show just how bothered Taylor still is by the whole thing. They claim that VMA producers were pushing for a duet between Kanye and Taylor on which to end the VMAs, but that Taylor hemmed and hawed and decided not to go through with it at the last minute. I don’t like Ted Casablanca’s bitchy take on this story, but at least the way he tells it makes sense:

If you thought Taylor Swift’s performance at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards—in which she replayed Kanye West stage-jacking from last year then crooned about how he’s still growing but remains innocent…uh, we think—was a tad uncomfy, you’re not the only one.

Certain MTV execs were not pleased with Ms. Swift’s performance—or lack-there-of, as it might be. Not only did her appearance leave some viewers scratching their heads, but Tay also shied away from a proposed duet between the two superstars—according to impeccable MTV sources. Keep in mind this was never an official duet planned by the hip network, but, merely one several key MTV players were very much pushing for.

For the record, MTV was gaga on everything Taylor. Certainly its president, Van Toffler, who said, “There was never a plan for Taylor Swift and Kayne to perform together and we were absolutely thrilled with her performance.”

Also, Swift’s reps claim likewise—that there was never any kind of a request or a push for such a joint performance. Which is unlike what other uber-inside MTV sources are telling us. But, alas, that’s what a goss column’s for, right?

Before we get to rest of the good dirt, trust us, folks in the Nokia Theatre, where the VMAs were held, were just as confused listening to T.Swift—wandering around her bizarre broken down home set sans shoes and singing a little ditty that everyone knew was addressed to the Kanye—as we’re sure you viewers at home were.

“The house is dead! The house is dead!” An überpowerful source that helped plan the night cried as Tay slowly walked back across stage after her performance to silence from the stunned crowd.

And not stunned in a good way, that’s for sure.

The whole performance was over-the-top melodramic—Taylor’s signature style, natch—for an incident that, in retrospect, really wasn’t a big deal. And from a gal who is supposedly totally over the whole ordeal, no less. Guess not, huh, Taylor?

‘Cause if Tay put the incident in her past, then she’d be up to show there are no hard feelings by taking the stage with Mr. West himself, which everyone at MTV and Team Kanye thought would happen.

Yep, despite what’s been reported, a performance was proposed for Taylor to take the stage and help Kanye close the show, finally putting to rest the ordeal that everyone else is so dunzo with.

The only person left to sign up for the onstage show of forgiveness (and, let’s be honest, a huge press moment for both of the two, no doubt) was Taylor. And she reportedly took her sweet time deciding…Like the entire friggin’ show.

Apparently, Tay refused to go on with Kanye, and she had people from MTV, Camp Kanye and her own folks working on overdrive throughout the duration of the show to see if she’d change her mind.

Guess she never did.

“Well, she’s a major-ass rising talent, girl’s got her right, right?”

[From E! Online]

Taylor asked us to forgive Kanye in her song, but she might just have been asking herself to do that, too. I think the whole thing really got to her, I think she had more than every right to let it get to her, and the way she’s handled it has shown what a sensitive caring person she is. Kanye is just a douchey showman and he knows that too. It doesn’t mean he’s a big old creep or that he had nefarious intentions. In no way do I think he should continue to be bashed for it. These two are who they are and they were both affected in their way by their very public run-in. All that considered, as Atticus and many of you wrote on that story, it’s time everyone moved on. It would have been nice to see these two publicly mend fences though, maybe to get some damn closure. US Weekly reports that they did this behind the scenes and talked in Taylor’s dressing room backstage. They quote a source that said “everything is good between them now.”