LOS ANGELES – Taylor Swift has absolved Kanye West of last year’s onstage sin with one somber song.

The 20-year-old delivered a poignant and powerful ode to West at Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards that instead of criticizing him, sympathized with his difficult time in the spotlight and West’s own admissions that his ego has often gotten in his own way.

“Thirty-two and still growing up now; who you are is not what you did,” she sang softly, adding: “You’re still an innocent.”

Swift’s dramatic performance delivered on the hype promised from a sequel to last year’s incident when West marred Swift’s acceptance speech for best female video by jumping onstage and insisting the award should have gone to Beyonce.

In the aftermath, West endured intense backlash, despite an apology, as well as a serious dent in his career that has yet to be ironed out.

The Swift-West pathos overshadowed the typical wild antics of the VMAs, with host Chelsea Handler adding to the bawdiness this year. A pre-taped portion of her opening featured the host getting spanked multiple times by show participants in a backstage hallway before running into the recently freed Lindsay Lohan, who also gave her a swat.

“Have you been drinking?” Lohan demanded. “Do you think anyone wants to work with a drunk? Take it from me! They don’t!”

In between the zaniness and performances from the likes of Justin Bieber and Usher, some actual awards were given out. Lady Gaga — who set a VMA record with her 13 nominations — was awarded best female video and best dance video for “Bad Romance” and best collaboration for her mini-epic “Telephone,” featuring Beyonce.

The outrageous singer picked up the biggest prize of the night, video of the year, wearing an outfit sure to anger the PETA crowd: a dress and chapeau that appeared to be made of cuts of meat. Another larger-than-life diva from another generation presented Gaga with her trophy — Cher.

Oprah dances onstage with John Travolta today

CHICAGO — Oprah Winfrey isn’t just walking onstage for the first show of her final season, she’s dancing — with John Travolta.

The 25th and final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” starts airing today. In video of the first episode, the TV talk show host and the actor dance hand-in-hand through her stage doors to “Love Train” by the O’Jays.

Winfrey had not said who would join her on the season premiere. Other celebrity guests and a musical performance have been hinted at.

On her 19th season premiere in 2004, Winfrey gave a car to the nearly 300 people in her studio audience. It was a $7 million giveaway during which she famously exclaimed, “You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!”

‘Resident Evil’ tops weekend

NEW YORK — On a weekend that Hollywood was largely content to cede to football and late-summer barbecues, Sony-Screen Gems’ “Resident Evil: Afterlife” led the box office.

The 3-D horror film earned $27.7 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, a total that exceeded expectations. It’s the fourth “Resident Evil” film, all of which have starred Milla Jovovich. This installment opened better than the three previous movies.

“Resident Evil” was the only film in new release on the historically slow moviegoing weekend following Labor Day. With an estimated box-office total of $82 million, it was the lowest-grossing weekend of the year.