While there were heaps of trophies handed out at the 29th American Music Awards held in L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium last night, the evening's drama surrounded the King of Flop Michael Jackson and whether he would or wouldn't perform.

The controversy stems from the long-standing, unspoken recording-academy policy that if you perform on the AMAs you have zero chance of appearing in a performance slot on the more prestigious Grammys.

Jackson didn't try to worm his way around the not-so-secret rule by performing via videotape as was reported widely yesterday. Instead, he accepted his Artist of the Century kudos with the usual assortment of thank-you's and avoided upstaging multi-award winners such as Alicia Keys, Destiny's Child, Tim McGraw and the late Aaliya, who all took two awards each.

At the AMAs, the most shocking performance came from award-show thriller Britney Spears - as usual.

This time 'round it wasn't because she pressed too much flesh toward the cameras, but because she was totally tasteful during her song "I'm Not a Girl- Not Yet A Woman."

While the crowd obviously missed Spears' flash-dance costumes and erotic moves, she won total approval by her *NSYNC beau Justin Timberlake, who literally leaped out of his seat cheering.