Category: Viral

Even as the 2020 MTV VMAs aired with a social distance-friendly program, thousands across the nation continued to protest injustice — particularly in the form of police shootings of Black Americans, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and more recently, Jacob Black. While the focus of the show was placed firmly on the music, the stars in attendance wouldn’t let the protests stray far from viewers’ minds.

Accepting the Best R&B VMA for his After Hours single “Blinding Lights,” The Weeknd lamented being unable to enjoy the moment with the recent killings weighing on him. “It’s really hard for me to celebrate right now and enjoy this moment,” he admitted. “So, I’m just gonna say: Justice for Jacob Blake and justice for Breonna Taylor. Thank you.”

Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department officers executing a no-knock warrant at her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. Upon hearing the break-in, her boyfriend fired at the unidentified intruders and their return fire struck Taylor, who was in bed. Several people, including rapper Cordae, were arrested at a sit-in at Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s home to demand the arrest of the three officers responsible for the shooting.

Meanwhile, Blake was a 29-year-old man who was shot in the back by officer Rusten Sheskey of the Kenosha Police Department while trying to break up a fight between two women, according to witnesses. A bystander’s video showed officer Sheskey firing seven shots as Blake was turned away from him. Blake was hit with four bullets, and is reportedly paralyzed from the waist down. Since then, the protests have included a players strike in the NBA.

Watch The Weeknd’s acceptance speech above.

The 2020 VMAs were full of stars, and perhaps the one with the biggest presence was Lady Gaga. She took the stage multiple times, whether it was for awards or for her epic multi-song performance. Each time she got in front of the camera, she donned a unique and memorable mask, which were perhaps the biggest highlight of a packed evening.

She accepted a pair of awards during the first half of the show, and between those times on stage, she found time for an outfit change, which is more of a feat than it would be for most considering the extravagance of her looks. During one appearance, she opted for a multicolored dress that was covered in what looks like fake eyelashes people put over car headlights. The mask for this outfit was a leathery pink one with tubes surrounding the mouth. For another, she was decked out in green, but her mask was a deep red and had two horns protruding from the cheeks, like something a GWAR or Slipknot superfan might wear to a show.

She also had a lengthy performance during the show, and she got technological with her mask for that one: It looked pretty standard aside from the mouth, which was covered by a live digital waveform of her vocals. After the performance, she accepted another award and put on another mask, a relatively pedestrian sparkly silver number. She donned that same mask again later in the program while accepting the Tricon Award.

Throughout the show, fans took to Twitter to share their reactions to Gaga’s masks, which were overwhelmingly positive. Gaga was praised for adapting her eccentric sense of style in a relevant way, and others saw her as an example for non-mask-wearers: If she can put on a phenomenal performance in a mask, everyday people should be able to put them on at the grocery store.

Check out some more reactions to Gaga’s fleet of masks below, and check out the full list of 2020 VMA winners here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

When two of today’s biggest pop stars join forces for a dancefloor-ready single, it’s sure to be a hit. That’s exactly what happened when Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande teamed up for their collaboartive track “Rain On Me,” which arrived ahead of Gaga’s sixth studio record Chromatica. The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and the duo won VMAs for Best Collaboration and Song Of The Year. Now, the two singers have once again come together to share a lively rendition of the track for the 2020 VMAs.

For Gaga’s first VMAs performance since 2013, the singer opened with a snippet of another revved-up track. After an expedient outfit change, Gaga and Grande’s thunderous performance lived up to the single’s energetic nature. The two singers show-stopped, sporting futuristic outfits as they harmonized their feel-good lyrics under the shimmering beat.

But their collective performance wasn’t the end of the show. After yet another outfit change, Gaga also danced along to a snippet of her hit track “Stupid Love.”

Ahead of their VMAs performance, Gaga revealed she was undergoing a turbulent time when she recorded Chromatica and although they weren’t close friends, Grande offered the singer emotional support while they were in the studio. Gaga was so vulnerable that she was even “too ashamed” to hang out with Grande afterwards: “She was like, ‘You’re going to be OK. Call me, here’s my number.’ And she was so persistent. She would try over and over again to be friends with me. And I was too ashamed to hang out with her, because I didn’t want to project all of this negativity onto something that was healing and so beautiful. And eventually she called me on my sh*t. She was, ‘You’re hiding.’ And I was like, ‘I am hiding. I’m totally hiding.’ And then this friendship blossomed.”

Watch Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga perform “Rain On Me” at the 2020 VMAs above.

Chromatica is out now via Interscope. Get it here.

The MTV VMAs aren’t exactly the most traditional affair this year, but that doesn’t mean big performances have been stricken from the show. A lot of huge acts are participating, one of the most beloved being BTS. During pre-show interviews, Jaden and host Keke Palmer both cited the group’s performance as the one they were most looking forward to, and as BTS tends to do, they delivered.

They are hot off the release of their “Dynamite” video, and they took advantage of the timing of the VMAs to give the debut performance of the track during the ceremony. For the performance of the English-language single, they took to the (green screen) streets dressed to the nines and performed fun choreography for the upbeat pop tune.

BTS are among the most nominated acts of the year, as they have three nods tonight, all for their “On” visual: Best K-Pop, Best Choreography, and Best Pop.

There’s no doubt that a non-insignificant portion of the viewing audience for this year’s VMAs is part of the BTS Army, as the group’s famously enthusiastic fan base has shown up in major ways lately. BTS recently debuted the video for “Dynamite,” and it shattered YouTube records. During the premiere, there were between 3 and 4 million simultaneous viewers. The clip also reached 10 million viewers in just 21 minutes, and in its first 24 hours, it racked up an impressive 101.1 million views, making them the first group to eclipse 100 million views in a video’s first day.

Watch BTS perform “Dynamite” above, and find the full list of this year’s VMAs winners here.

On Friday night, the world was shocked to learn of Chadwick Boseman’s death from colon cancer — a health issue the actor had kept secret from all but his closest friends and family. The tributes poured in, from fans, from colleagues, from a world stunned to learn they’d lost an actor they assumed they’d be watching for decades to come. Some of those came from his fellow MCU actors, including Danai Gurira, the Walking Dead star who played Wakanda special forces head Okoye in Black Panther.

Alongside pictures of her and Boseman and empty on-set movie set chairs reading “T’Challa” and “Okoye,” Gurira posted a lengthy tribute to the actor with whom he helped make history, starring in the MCU’s first solo effort with a black lead.

“How do you honor a king? Reeling from the loss of my colleague, my friend, my brother. Struggling for words. Nothing feels adequate,” the actress and playwright wrote in her Twitter post. “I always marveled at how special Chadwick was. Such a pure hearted, profoundly generous, regal, fun guy.”

She continued:

“My entire job as Okoye was to respect and protect a king. Honor his leadership. Chadwick made that job profoundly easy … He was the epitome of kindness, elegance, diligence and grace. On many an occasion I would think how thankful I was that he was the leading man I was working closely with. A true class act. And so perfectly equipped to take on the responsibility of leading the franchise that changed everything for Black representation.”

“He made everyone feel loved, heard and seen. He played great, iconic roles because he possessed inside of himself that connection to greatness to be able to so richly bring them to life. He had a heroic spirit, and marched to the beat of his own drum; hence his excellence as an artist and the incredible courage and determination as he faced life’s challenges; while still guiding us all,” she wrote. “He was zen and sweet and funny (with the very best laugh), attentive, and truly, truly, good. I can’t even wrap my mind around this loss. A loss resonating in my own heart as well as around the globe. The children he inspired, my heart aches for them, to lose their hero just as they finally found him. I am so thankful to have taken the Black Panther journey with him. To have known him, spent time in his light and leadership and to call him forever a friend.”

Gurira — whose play Eclipsed was nominated for five Tonys back in 2015, including one for fellow Black Panther actress Lupita Nyong’o — has played Okoye not only in Black Panther but also in the Avengers entries Infinity War and Endgame.

(Via EW)

Miley Cyrus began teasing a new era of music shortly after she shared last year’s mellow EP, She Is Coming. While details of her upcoming full-length, She Is Miley Cyrus, have yet to be revealed, the singer recently shared the lead single. “Midnight Sun” arrived as a ’80s-inspired anthem of empowerment alongside her self-directed video. Now, Cyrus has graced us with her first-ever live performance of the single at the 2020 VMAs.

Trading in her wrecking ball for a mirrored disco ball, Cyrus gave it all in a dance-ready rendition of the track. Sporting an iridescent dress and her newly-sheared mullet, Cyrus showcased her smokey vocals with the disco-inspired track. “Fire in my lungs, can’t bite the devil on my tongue, oh no / I don’t need to be loved by you,” Cyrus belted.

Ahead of her performance, Cyrus opened up about the status of her impending release. The singer said she already has about 20 songs recorded for the record, but fans may need to be a little more patience before hearing full LP. “I really think that the record I made is meant for festivals, for shows, for touring,” she said. “So for me, I really want to wait until I can perform… my live performances really drive my music. That’s where I thrive: Me and the band. That’s what I would love to see happen in the near future, and I’m a patient person; Even though it may not seem that way, I am pretty patient, so I think I would like to wait until we can get connected to release a whole body of work.”

Watch Cyrus perform “Midnight Sun” at the 2020 VMAs above.

DaBaby reunited with the Jabbawockeez for his VMAs performance of “Blind,” “Peephole,” and “Rockstar,” all backdropped by apocalyptic visuals and — of course — elaborate choreography from the masked dance team.

DaBaby is no stranger to the virtual concert, using his appearance on the 2020 BET Awards to comment on the civil unrest currently unfolding nationwide in the wake of a string of high-profile incidents that saw police killing Black American citizens without consequence. However, that didn’t stop him from seeking to recover some of his lost revenue with a live show in Georgia that drew criticism for failing to follow social distancing guidelines.

Still, that was a far cry from where DaBaby started the year — under fire for accidentally punching a woman who got too close while trying to get a photo in a club, then garnering a lukewarm reception for his new album, Blame It On Baby. DaBaby may have wound up getting the last laugh, though.

For one thing, his and Roddy Ricch’s single from the album, “Rockstar,” not only topped Spotify’s most-streamed songs of the summer in addition to its several weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, but his appearance on a pair of peers’ singles put him in rare company with three songs in the top ten of the Hot 100. He’s also got a deluxe version of Blame It On Baby with 10 new tracks, so in the grand scheme of things, he’s one of the few people who can count 2020 as a good year — from a personal perspective, at least.

Watch DaBaby’s VMA performance of “Blind,” “Peephole,” and “Rockstar” above.

Ahead of the 2020 MTV VMAs, show host Keke Palmer appeared in a hastily pre-recorded message to address what she called the “devastating” loss of actor Chadwick Boseman on Friday, August 28. The clip was apparently shot without the benefit of professional equipment; Palmer used the opportunity to dedicate the show to Boseman’s memory. The VMAs official Twitter account echoed the sentiment, posting “RIP Chadwick Boseman. Tonight’s #VMAs is dedicated to him.”

Boseman passed away at the age of 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer, drawing a wave of of responses from across the movie, music, and sports worlds. Boseman, who portrayed the Marvel Comics superhero Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, received tributes during the NBA Playoffs as his co-stars and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler mourned him, marking his importance across the spectrum of pop culture, but especially for Black Americans who saw themselves in his portrayal of the Black superhero who broke box office records left and right and gave the world the iconic phrase “Wakanda forever.”

Boseman was praised for filming no less than six movies while fighting the cancer: Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, 21 Bridges, Da 5 Bloods, and of course, Black Panther.

Watch the VMAs’ tribute to Chadwick Boseman above.

With a No. 1 album and single in 2020, it’s been a huge year for The Weeknd. An awards show this year wouldn’t be complete without his presence, so thankfully, he led a stacked roster of artists performing at this year’s MTV VMAs.

For the show, he performed his aforementioned No. 1 single, “Blinding Lights.” Like previous performances of the track, it was cinematic in its presentation. Wearing his classic After Hours-era get-up, the camera stayed tight on his face before switching angles to reveal the 1000-foot-high Manhattan roof he was on. The performance literally ended with a bang, via a fleet of fireworks behind him.

The Weeknd is one of the top nominees at this year’s show, as he and Billie Eilish both sit in second place with six nods each. The Weeknd is up for Artist Of The Year, and his “Blinding Lights” video is nominated for Video Of The Year, Best R&B, Best Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

The After Hours promotional cycle has hinged on creative TV performances from The Weeknd. He brought “Heartless” to The Late Show late last year, and instead of taking the stage in the traditional way, he instead navigated the bowels of the backstage area, finding himself in surreal environments that made for a unique visual experience. He continued to extend the cinematic universe of After Hours with a Jimmy Kimmel Live! performance of “Blinding Lights” the next month, in which he was beat up and bandaged, much like he was for the album’s visuals.

Watch the performance above, and find the full list of this year’s VMAs winners here.

Bringing their undeniable talents to the big stage, Chloe x Halle took to the 2020 MTV VMAs to perform “Ungodly Hour.” Rocking a flashy look for their performance, the duo impressed with their performance of the Ungoldly Hour title track as they let their voices fly and dazzle the ears of listeners. Bringing life to what appears to be an empty warehouse, Chloe x Halle shined brightly thanks to the light show that bounced all over their wardrobe in the second VMA performance of their career. The duo is also up for two awards tonight with “Do It” receiving nominations in the Best R&B and Best Quarantine Performance categories.

Chloe X Halle’s performance comes months after the sisters shared their sophomore album earlier this year. Presented with thirteen songs and a guest appearance from Swae Lee, Chloe x Halle reached new heights while stripping their innocence for listeners on the new project. The duo has brought their new album to numerous TV platforms including a recent performance of “Do It” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Adding on to their very successful year, Chloe X Halle also landed on Michelle Obama’s Spotify playlist which she released to support her newly-launched podcast, Higher Ground: The Michelle Obama.

Watch their 2020 MTV VMAs performance in the video above.