Britney Spears is scheduled to kick-off the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday night, the network confirms to Usmagazine.com.Spears’ opening will be ‘some type of performance,’ a source tells Us.’MTV has long played an important role in my career,’ Spears, 26, says in a statement to Us. ‘How can I not be there to kick off their 25th VMAs?’I’m excited to open the entire show, to say hi to my fans and to be nominated,’ she adds.Spears is nominated this year for Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video of the Year for ‘Piece of Me.’ She has been nominated 17 times before but never walked away with a ‘Moonman.’See Britney Spears’ various on-set looks.Spears’ camp long denied a performance is in the works.’Britney Spears will not be performing at the VMAs this year. I’m telling you officially and unequivocally,’ Ryan Seacrest quoted her manager, Larry Rudolph, as saying on his KIIS-FM radio show last week.See photos of Britney Spears’ sexy new bikini bod.Last year, Spears raised eyebrows after her rocky opening performance of ‘Gimme More.’ The New York Times called her ‘awful,’ writing that she ‘tottered around the stage, dancing tentatively and doing nothing that sounded or looked like real live singing.”Britney has done everything from perform with a snake, lock lips with Madonna and prove that what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas,’ MTV Networks president Van Toffler tells Us. ‘I can’t wait to see what she does to kick off this year’s show.’See photos of the most outrageous moments in MTV VMA history.The 25th annual awards telecast, hosted by British actor/comedian Russell Brand, will air live at 9 p.m. ET/PT from Paramount Studios in Hollywood.
