Lady Gaga dominates MTV awards

Lady Gaga caused a stir at the MTV Video Music Awards when she took to the stage in a matching dress, boots, hat and purse - that appeared to be made of cuts of raw beef.

The Poker Face singer, 24, dominated the bash with eight awards - matching A-ha's record for the second highest number of wins in one night in the history of the event.

Florence + the Machine and rock band Muse were British winners at the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles.

Tears ran down Lady Gaga's face after Cher presented the US singer with the most coveted award of the ceremony, Video Of The Year for Bad Romance.

Lady Gaga handed Cher her purse and told the audience: "I never thought I'd be asking Cher to hold my meat purse."

She told the audience: "Thank you so much. I was so nervous for tonight that I would let my fans down. I love you so much.

"I promised if I'd won this tonight I'd announce the name of my new record. It's called Born This Way."

Lady Gaga, whose previous outfits have included a Kermit the Frog dress, belted out lyrics from her next release with: "God makes no mistakes, I'm on the right track baby, I was born this way" to huge cheers from the crowd.

Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video scored seven of her eight wins, including best Female, Pop Video and Video Of The Year, while Telephone, featuring Beyonce, won best Collaboration.

Gaga had sported an Alexander McQueen creation for the earlier part of the evening, before taking to the stage to collect her final award wearing a dress that looked as though it had been made from layers of meat.

Her choice of outfit is likely to anger animal rights activists, who criticised her decision to appear on the cover of Vogue in Japan wearing a meat bikini earlier this month.

Performances of the night included Florence + The Machine frontwoman Florence Welch singing Dog Days Are Over, which won the Art Direction trophy.

She performed while lying down and spinning on a rotating stage in front of an audience who included Gaga and fellow winners Canadian star Justin Bieber and rapper Eminem.

Welch appears blindfolded in a wood in the winning video.

The ceremony also saw Taylor Swift forgive Kanye West for last year's antics, when West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech, saying her trophy should have gone to Beyonce.

Swift offered an olive branch with her song Innocent, singing: "Everyone of us has messed up, too ... I hope you remember today is never too late to be brand new."

Comedian Chelsea Handler hosted the show and a pre-taped portion of her opening featured her getting spanked by award participants in a backstage hallway before running into the recently freed Lindsay Lohan, who also gave her a smack.

"Have you been drinking?" Lohan demanded from Handler. "Do you think anyone wants to work with a drunk? Take it from me, they don't."

Muse won the Special Effects video award for Uprising.

:: The winners

:: Collaboration: Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce, Telephone

:: Female Video: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance

:: Male Video: Eminem, Not Afraid

:: Hip-hop Video: Eminem, Not Afraid

:: New Artist: Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris, Baby

:: Pop Video: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance

:: Rock Video: 30 Seconds to Mars, Kings and Queens

:: Dance Music Video: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance

:: Art Direction: Florence + the Machine, Dog Days Are Over

:: Choreography: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance

:: Cinematography: Jay Z and Alicia Keys, Empire State of Mind

:: Direction: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance

:: Editing: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance

:: Special Effects: Muse, Uprising

:: Breakthrough Video: The Black Keys, Tighten Up

:: Video Of The Year: Lady Gaga, Bad Romance