The VMAs, or the Very Much Annoying award show
Award shows are so emotionally exhausting. For me, about 90% of their air time is spent fuming over how annoying the host is, or about an ignorant joke in a skit, or about the same few (usually white) people winning all the awards. You know who I’m talking about. I won’t say the name on this blog. I refuse to.
The VMAs were on tonight. Some redeeming moments of the show: Nicki Minaj’s performance of Trini Dem Girls (we will not discuss the tragedy that occurred during the second half of her performance), Justin Bieber literally RISING (he made his comeback performance tonight and flew into the air Chris Brown style), O’Shea Jackson Jr. looking handsome as usual, and Kanye West giving one of his signature motivational speeches concluding with his official #Kanye2020 announcement. Yeezy We Can.
Despite the fact that Kanye’s speech was among the few highlights of the show, he seems to have pushed some buttons among his many haters that have Bad Blood™ with him. People exasperated with him for saying he’s not a politician then announcing he plans on running for presidency, glossing over every other point he made to focus on the contradiction in his speech. People clinging to the fact that he said he smoked a bit before going onstage as if Miley hadn’t been saying the exact same thing ALL NIGHT and wrapping up the show with a performance reinforcing her claims.
It’s astounding that some people were annoyed about Kanye at all when our dear host Miley Cyrus wore dreadlocks thus overtly ignoring people calling her out for appropriating black culture, and joked about voting for the devil himself, Donald Trump. Even worse, Rebel Wilson made a mockery of the anti-police brutality movement by performing a monologue that referred to exotic dancers who dress as cops as the “real” problem:
“A lot of people have problem with the police, but I really hate police strippers. You guys know what I’m talking about. They come to your house, you think you’re getting arrested, and you just get a lap dance that is usually uninspired! I hired police stripper for my grandma’s 80th, and he wouldn’t even feel her up…. I hate this injustice, hence the shirt.”
The absence of tact throughout her performance was dumbfounding; who gave her the green light to kid about such a serious topic that is currently so tragically relevant in the USA? We all know MTV will do anything for ratings, as Kanye called them out for in his speech and as was proven by the way they teased about the possibility of Zayn Malik attending the show. But to take it this far really proves how low low-brow culture can actually get.
Let’s talk about pop culture. The VMAs, as frustrating as they can be, are an important event in the annual cycle of pop music history, and the events that transpire during the show are not only fun to livetweet about but also important to discuss. Don’t give Miley a hall pass for her cultural appropriation just because she does charity work. Don’t let Taylor make everything all about her and encourage white feminism even if it seems Nicki has “made up” with her. Don’t tolerate Rebel turning police brutality into an unamusing comedy bit.
Rather than wasting your breath/tweets whining about Kanye getting real or mocking Justin for crying, take the time to think about issues that were brought up tonight that actually need to be addressed. Morality and entertainment don’t always go hand in hand, but as the audience we have the power to tell entertainers that there are certain brands of bullshit that we will never buy into.
