In addition to their new home at Staples Center, the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards will also have a new start time: 8 p.m.

The reason?

President Barack Obama will be making his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

“We will be airing the VMAs on Thursday, September 6th from 8-10 PM as opposed to our traditional 9-11 PM time slot to avoid conflict with the Democratic National Convention proceedings that evening,” a MTV spokesperson told Deadline.com.

And in case you’re wondering why the VMA’s are on Thursday instead of Sunday, it would have been going head-to-head with the first NBC Sunday night NFL game of the season — Peyton Manning‘s debut with the Denver Broncos.

Part-time Los Angeles resident Manny Pacquiao might have to find a new place to spend his free time when he’s in town.

The Filipino boxer and politician was barred from The Grove and the television show Extra after the shopping center was tipped off to a quote Pacquiao reportedly told the Examiner, saying that gay men “must be put to death.”

Well, that’s if you listen to the LA Weekly, who took the original article out of context and tipped off The Grove owner Rick Caruso.

This is what the Examiner article originally said:

Pacquiao’s directive for Obama calls societies to fear God and not to promote sin, inclusive of same-sex marriage and cohabitation, notwithstanding what Leviticus 20:13 has been pointing all along: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”

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We learned last week on Bill Simmons‘ podcast that President Barack Obama‘s favorite character on The Wire is Omar Little.

Now, the folks at Grantland have set up a tournament to determine the greatest character on the cult HBO series.

The 32-person tournament kicks off Monday and a few things immediately stood out in the seedings:

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Los Angeles artist Shepard Fairey — best known for his 2008 Barack Obama “Hope” poster — faces up to six months in prison after pleading guilty Friday to criminal contempt in New York City.

Fairey was convicted of destroying documents, manufacturing evidence and other misconduct in association with his civil litigation against the Associated Press over a unlicensed image of Obama.

While the AP and Fairey settled their copyright case in 2011, the 42-year-old created fake documents and tried to delete several electronic documents, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara noted in a statement.

“The AP hopes that some good may come of this, by alerting judges and parties to the possibility that spoliation may exist,” said AP president and CEO Tom Curley.

Stealing is bad. Lying is worse.

Max Schwartz still wants that one-on-one with Barack Obama. But for now, the Beverly Hills High School student is happy to settle for getting within about 30 feet of the commander-in-chief at LAX.

Per a fun write-up on Beverly Hills Patch, the ambitious senior was one of a dozen pool reporters accredited to cover the LA arrival of POTUS this past Wednesday. He tells Patch contributor Laurie Lande, who herself once reported for the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, how it all came about:

Schwartz called the White House press office at least monthly with interview requests and repeatedly phoned since early February when he learned the President was visiting Los Angeles… “I was added to the White House [press] email blast after several requests.”

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The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded this Friday. And rumor has it that a certain tow-headed Californian whose name rhymes with Bark Tuckerberg is in serious contention to win.

From the LA Times:

It may seem unlikely, but on Wednesday Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, made some provocative comments that fueled speculation Zuckerberg could be a contender for the prestigious award.

“For me and the committee it is quite obvious if you look at the world today and see what is happening out there,” Jagland said in an interview with the Associated Press. “What are the major forces pushing the world in the right direction?”

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The Occidental Weekly, a publication anchored to Barack Obama‘s oft-cited LA Alma Mater, has been around since 1893. But it’s safe to say that this week’s piece on 20-year-old art student, muralist and painter Spencer Elden ranks right up there in terms of inspired anniversary slants.

As a newborn, Elden was famously pictured on the cover of Seattle band Nirvana’s seminal 1991 album “Nevermind.” Twenty years later, reporters Jack Butcher and Evan Pydych decided to check back in with the grunge rock goo-goo ga-ga guy. They’re not the only ones to think of this, as CNN apparently was on the trail not too far back. Still, it makes for a great community read:

We talked to Elden about his viewpoint on ”Nevermind” these days. “It’s starting to fit the situation well,” Elden suggests. “There’s a lot of people who relate to the album.”

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In an appearance on CSPAN today, PBS’ Tavis Smiley brought up the fact that while Barack Obama used to make routine appearances on Smiley’s radio and television programs, these days he can’t even get an invite to White House press events–let along land an interview with the President.

“He’s the first president in my professional history that has not invited me to the White House.”

As Cornel West noted on the same program, however, election season is coming up. That will probably change shortly.

H/T Romenesko

Since President Obama announced the killing of Osama bin Laden, the internet has been dominated by the news — and the resulting jubilation. A few of our favorite memes:

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New York Times tech writer Nick Bilton shared this little gem via Twitter:

And one more for the typo files, from MSNBC correspondent Norah O’Donnell:

O’Donnell removed the tweet once she realized her mistake, but not before The Daily Caller got a screen shot.