Not a single person was clamoring for the return of MTV’s Video Music Awards this year, except for maybe the person that crafts the moon man statuettes, but the VMAs are coming. The announcement was for some reason made by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo during a press briefing, according to Entertainment Tonight. Who knew Gov. Cuomo was such a fan of a meaningless award show that hasn’t been relevant since 2009?
The governor announced that the show would be taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on August 30, likely with no audience present. The event, described by MTV as “music’s biggest night,” was last staged at the Barclays in 2013, and I could not tell you a single thing that occurred that year.
While the VMAs have had their share of iconic moments—Britney’s python performance and 2003 kiss with Madonna and Christina Aguilera; Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 opener; Beyonce in 2011, 2014, and 2016—the show itself has little to do with music and more to do with who is popular at any given moment. That person is usually Taylor Swift, who has an army of people, like me, voting her into winning categories she doesn’t necessarily deserve to win. Outside of a few fun moments that function better as YouTube clips, the VMAs are also quite boring and only serve as a way to put a bunch of famous people in one room and hope drama manifests.
If no other show cuts in line before them, the VMAs will be the first show of the 2020 awards season to be held in person, rather than virtually. This is, I guess, an accomplishment. But if people are only watching because there is literally nothing else on, do the ratings count?