Yes, the whole Kanye West-Taylor Swift story is happening. I keep waiting for it to die down, but this is a good example of how the aftermath of a scandal is as important as what actually happened during the scandal. I mean, the whole Kanye grabbing the mic from Taylor thing? Yes, it was so painful, it felt like forever, but in reality the whole incident was less than two minutes. The aftermath was key. Personally, I tend to think Kanye made the whole situation so much worse by how he acted in the aftermath with his half-hearted ALL CAPS non-apology. But people were already pissed, and there was always going to be a Kanye backlash. I think Kanye gets it. His apology on Leno seemed sincere enough, and I’m starting to agree with Russell Brand – no one died.

We can be more magnanimous to The A–hole Formerly Known As Kanye because we’ve gotten the signal from Taylor Swift to live and let live. Her immediate post-incident interviews were very classy, and she dropped by The View this morning to show off more of her gracious nature. Taylor admitted that Kanye hadn’t apologized to her personally, but she seemed to invite him to call her and say “Hi”.

Kanye West may have apologized publicly, but he still hasn’t said anything personally to Taylor Swift.

Swift, who appeared on The View Tuesday, said that while she would accept a face-to-face apology from the rapper – “Sure!” – he has made no effort to get in touch with her since disrupting her best female video award acceptance speech at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards.

“He has not personally reached out or anything,” she said, “but if he wanted to say hi…”

The singer explained what was going through her mind Sunday night as she watched West grab the microphone and announce that her award should have gone to Beyoncé.

“My overall thought process went something like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I won. This is awesome. Don’t trip and fall. I’m going to get to thank the fans, this is so cool … Oh, Kanye West is here! Cool haircut! What are you doing there? And then, ouch. And then, I guess I’m not going to thank the fans.’ ”

West apologized on his blog later that night, and on Monday, he told Jay Leno that he’d like to apologize to Swift in person.

“I’m not going to say that I wasn’t rattled by it,” said Swift on The View, “but I had to perform live five minutes later so I had get myself back to the place where I could perform.”

Swift said she was touched about the outpouring of support from fans and fellow singers like Kelly Clarkson, who blogged that West was “a sad human being.”

“All the artists came and showed me love and all the people Tweeting about it … all the fans … I just never imagined that there were that many people out there looking out for me, so it was really wonderful to see that people were out there defending me so I didn’t have to.”

[From People]

So, that’s the kicker. Taylor got so much more exposure and goodwill, and won more fans because of this incident than she ever would have if Kanye had just kept his drunk ass in his seat. I think it would be a nice touch for Kanye to personally call Taylor and offer his apologizes – this young woman is so classy, you know she’s already forgiven him, and they could probably have a nice conversation. If he called, she would probably ask him to send her an autograph – I get the feeling that’s the kind of sweet kid she is.

In one more related note, Us Weekly has an “exclusive” statement from Beyonce manager-father Matthew Knowles. He praises his daughter to high heaven, as if the night was all about Beyonce. It kind of sucks when Beyonce did this great, classy thing, and now her father’s out there trying to sell it, but whatever. Daddy Knowles says, “It wasn’t my decision to bring Taylor out. It was all Beyonce’s decision. I want to be clear about that. My job is to execute and come up with some ideas, but ultimately that was Beyonce’s decision. I can only say it was a proud night for me as a manager, but more importantly as a father. I’ve always said the thing that makes me most proud about Beyonce is not how many records she sold or how many plaques she has or how many awards; it’s that she’s a genuine good person. I know it’s hard for people to believe that she can really be that nice of a person, but she really is.” I believed Beyonce was a nice person until you tried to force me to think it.

UPDATE: According to sources at The View to Us Weekly, Kanye West called Taylor and personally apologized for his actions at the VMAs. Word is that she accepted his apology. Is it over now?

Here’s Taylor Swift spotted leaving her New York City hotel and shaking a fan’s hand while passing through Broadway after appearing on ABC’s ‘The View’ this morning. Images thanks to WENN.com and Mavrix.