I found out about the Kanye incident the same way I find out about any sort of pop culture I would otherwise not be interested in: from my co-worker who has a teenage daughter. She is also my source of anything to do American Idol, Twilight, High School Musical and pretty much any reality show.
If it was me winning the award I would have punched Kayne in the face. Hell, I'd like to do that ANYWAY and in this case you could probably get away with it.
I find award shows pretty silly. For me though it's all about who they give the awards to that bothers me. The Grammys for example acknowledge the most soulless corporate dribble. The reason the Oscars have some credibility is because they don't give Transformers the award for best picture. If I was a recording artist though I would attend the award shows. At least when it was still a new thing, I would be excited if I was nominated for anything and happy if I won. Awards after all are as prestigious as those winning them so if *I* won anything, well, then it must mean something, right?

If you thought that Grammys were awarded to shitty music but then you made an album that you really wanted to make and it turned out the way you liked and it won a Grammy, wouldn't you be happy? Hey, these morons finally acknowledged something worthwhile, right?