What’s up?
It’s Emile Ennis Jr. here with Clevver News
and the VMAs were last night and there were
lots of memorable, exciting, and even awkward
moments from the show as it was one of the
first in person award ceremonies since the
pandemic started.
Ok so on Sunday the MTV VMAs were hosted by
Keke Palmer and held in New York City on a
variety of outdoor stages across New York’s
five boroughs.
And sure, while it wasn’t exactly how the
VMAs always go, nothing this year has been
quote un quote normal.
At the very least, this year’s VMAs will
go down as one of the most memorable semi-live
TV events given the circumstances.
Yeah, I mean, it wasn’t a huge surprise
that some of the performances and acceptance
speeches were pre-recorded.
It would’ve been tough to make the whole
thing 100% live.
And despite some awkward moments, the very
limited audience members, and the noticeable
social distance, there were some huge stand
out moments from the night.
Starting with Lady Gaga.
We literally can’t talk about last night’s
VMAs without mentioning Lady Gaga.
She won 5 VMAs including the VMAs' first-ever
Tricon Award to recognize her career achievements.
Gaga also had an epic 15 minute performance
that brought us to Chromatica and back.
Ariana Grande even came out for their first
ever live performance of the VMA winning song
Rain On Me.
But I’ve gotta say, the real winner of the
night were Gaga’s masks.
She proudly wore one dramatic mask after the
next and made a point of encouraging others
to wear masks too.
And fans have been flooding Twitter saying
things like “if lady gaga can do a full
performance like this in a mask then you can
wear your mask when you’re going to the
grocery store”
And while accepting her Tricon award she said
quote, “I might sound like a broken record,
but wear a mask, it’s a sign of respect.”
Yes Gaga, leave it to her to promote doing
the right thing while also making masks a
full on fashion statement.
And while we’re on the topic of acceptance
speeches, we’ve gotta talk about another
important moment from the night.
The Weeknd used his time during both of his
acceptance speeches, including his big award
for video of the year award, to call for justice.
“It’s really hard for me to celebrate
right now and enjoy this moment so I’m just
gonna say justice for Jacob Blake and justice
for Breonna Taylor.
Thank you.”
The Weeknd’s calls for justice were beyond
the music, performances, and awards from the
night.
It was important for him to shed light on
police brutality and how serious this issue
is in the USA.
Other celebs like Tinashe spoke out thanking
him on Twitter writing “@theweeknd thanks
for being the only person to speak on Jacob
Blake/Breonna Taylor last night at the VMAS,
you’re a real one.”
And we couldn’t agree more.
Ok, next up, Taylor Swift made VMA history
last night with her win for Best Directing.
Taylor became the first solo female artist
to win best directing for her video for The
Man.
She’s also only the second woman ever to
win the Best Directing award.
And speaking of making history, BTS also made
history last night with their first ever VMA
performance.
Though they unfortunately couldn’t be there
in person, they streamed in from South Korea
and it was epic.
They performed their new song Dynamite and
the boys were wearing head to toe Gucci.
The BTS ARMY was obsessed with this performance
and it was trending in over 20 countries.
But that wasn’t the only big moment of the
night for the BTS boys, they also swept all
four of their nominations including Best Group,
Best K-Pop, Best Pop, and Best Choreography.
And these awards were obviously all very well
deserved.
Some other big moments from the night were
when Doja Cat took home her first ever VMA
for Push Best New Artist, Miley Cyrus performed
on yet another wrecking ball, and the night’s
host Keke Palmer even did a performance of
her own.
But we can’t forget to talk about Keke’s
touching tribute to Chadwick Boseman at the
beginning of the show.
She dedicated the show to him saying quote,
“We need take the time to talk about the
devastating loss of Chadwick Boseman, an actor
whose talent and passion was a true inspiration
to all the fans he touched and everyone he
encountered.
We dedicated tonight's show to a man whose
spirit touched so many.
He's a true hero, not just on screen, but
in everything he did.
His impact lives forever.”
And as she opened the show Keke also took
a moment to speak out about the Black Lives
Matter Movement and called for an end of police
brutality.
Fans of Keke’s know that she’s been very
active in the movement both on social media
and by attending protests herself.
So again, we were just glad to see that even
on a night of celebration, celebs took the
time to speak on these important issues our
country is facing.
And the last moment we’re going to talk
about from the VMAs was a moment that actually
didn’t happen that fans were upset about
it.
People have been taking to social media to
express their disappointment that Kobe Bryant
was excluded from the VMAs 'In Memoriam' segment.
The segment honored other great artists we’ve
lost over this past year including rappers
Juice Wrld and Pop Smoke.
But the In Memoriam didn’t just honor musicians,
actors Chadwick Boseman and Naya Rivera were
also included, so fans were extremely upset
that Kobe was left out.
People were tweeting things like “@vmas
How DARE you guys Not pay tribute to KOBE
BRYANT!!!!
He is an Academy Award winner and Legend!!!
And you chose to leave him out of your 2020
tribute!”
So clearly while there were some big wins
of the night, there were also some misses.
Overall though, fans online seemed to really
enjoy the show and just loved getting to see
their favorite artists perform again.
It’s certainly been a while!
And it’ll be interesting to see how the
upcoming award season handles their ceremonies,
fans think the VMAs really set the bar for
how it can be done.
If you want more on this year’s VMAs and
are curious about who was snubbed, click right
over here for another Clevver News video.
Also, let us know down in the comments below
what you thought about last night’s show.
I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys!
