Chelsea Handler Goes from Sex Tape to VMAs; Lindsay Lohan Leaves Jail and Rehab for VMAs; Kanye West Never Left it Seems

Chelsea Handler has gone from explaining her appearance in a sex tape to hosting the VMAs; a frequent target of Handler's is Lindsay Lohan, who, after serving a brief jail sentence for violating her probation, will make a brief appearance at the VMAs; Handler is said to be ready for Kanye West, a year removed from embarrassing himself and the VMA show itself, as he goes on the show tonight to seek some sort of redemption.

While the music videos themselves might be reason enough to tune into MTV's annual awards show, the personal tales of redemption and comebacks are pretty compelling as well, particularly as the host Chelsea Handler seems ready to take on Lindsay Lohan and Kanye West for their respective foibles.

Chelsea Handler is known primarily as a funny and sexy talk show comedienne. She hosts her own late night talk show on the E! Channel, called Chelsea Lately, which features her ribald sense of humor. While her show is not exactly rated G, its content is far from that which one might expect from a sex tape star.

In early May, however it was reported on Radaronline that a sex tape featuring Handler and an unidentified man with a British accent performing a sex act as Handler looked into the camera. After a certain period of time performing, the tape cuts away to Handler performing in a standup routine. Chandler and her representatives claimed that the sex tape was made many years ago and was meant as a 'joke'. Perhaps it was. But it was a sex tape nonetheless.

On her show after the sex tape story was leaked, Handler said, "I would like to say to RadarOnline.com, thanks for ruining my surprise Christmas gift to my staff, and number two, it was made as a joke. I put it on an audition tape for a comedy club, because I'm a comedienne, and I've been showing it at birthday parties for (expletive) years!"

The reality is that celebrity sex tapes have become almost passé. Handler has seemingly suffered very little fallout from her sex tape, particularly as it came during what seemed to be the 'summer of sex tapes' as celebrities and celebrity wannabes ranging from Montana Fishburne to Kendra Wilkinson all appeared in celebrity sex tapes.

A star facing far more serious trouble this summer was Lindsay Lohan. While the sex tape story may have embarrassed Handler to some degree, Lohan actually served jail time this summer for probation violations stemming from a DUI arrest. She has been released from jail and from a subsequent rehab stint and plans to address her troubles tonight at the VMAs. Presumably, this is an attempt to show the world that she is back and that she is working on fixing her problems. It will be interesting to see how Handler reacts to Lohan as the troubled star is often the target of barbs on Chelsea Lately.

While Kanye West has not had a sex tape nor any substance abuse problems, he made a national spectacle of himself last year during the VMAs when he interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for video of the year to tell the world that Beyonce's video should have won.

West met with almost universal disdain as everybody from President Obama to Beyonce herself rejected his behavior and honored Swift. Beyonce, being the class act she is known to be, gave up her time after winning another award to Swift so that she could have her moment of recognition. Handler said, jokingly we think, that tonight she will be packing 'bb guns and water guns' in case West decides to once again 'storm the stage' and interrupt the show.

While the VMAs will never be confused with the Grammy Awards nor the Academy Awards, and while the day to day struggles of Chelsea Handler, Lindsay Lohan and Kanye West will hardly define the zeitgeist, tonight's show will be a bit more fun as Handler comes back from a sex tape, Lohan recovers from prison time, and Kanye West tries to redeem himself after acting like, in President Obama's words, a 'jackass' in last year's VMAs.

Sources:

"Chelsea Handler: I'll Be Ready If Kanye West Storms VMA Stage", usmagazine.com
"Lindsay Lohan to Appear at VMAs", radaronline.com
"Obama Calls Kanye West a 'Jackass'", foxnews.com