Country United States Other ceremonies 2009, 2011 | Date 12 September 2010 | |
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Location Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California, United States | ||
The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 12, 2010 at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. Chelsea Handler hosted the event, the first woman in sixteen years – since the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards – to do so.
Contents
- Performances
- Awards
- Video of the Year
- Best Male Video
- Best Female Video
- Best New Artist
- Best Pop Video
- Best Rock Video
- Best Hip Hop Video
- Best Dance Music Video
- Best Collaboration
- Breakthrough Video
- Best Direction
- Best Choreography
- Best Special Effects
- Best Art Direction
- Best Editing
- Best Cinematography
- Latino Artist of the Year
- Appearances
- williams blackface criticism
- Lady Gagas meat dress
- References
Being nominated 13 times, Lady Gaga became the most-nominated artist in VMA history for a single year and subsequently became the first female artist to receive two nominations for Video of the Year when both "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" were nominated for the award. She was also the top winner of the night when "Telephone" won Best Collaboration and "Bad Romance" won seven separate awards including Video of the Year, bringing her total number of moonmen to eight. When she accepted her award for Video of the Year, she also announced the title of her second studio album, Born This Way and sang an excerpt from the title track. She accepted the award while wearing a dress complete with a hat, purse, and shoes all made entirely from cuts of raw meat which was met with intense criticism from PETA.
Overall, the show grabbed 11.4 million viewers – the largest audience for a Video Music Awards show since 2002.
Performances
The house artist was Deadmau5. The following performed along with him:
Outside in the parking lot there were the following performances:
Source: performers
Awards
Winners are in bold text.
Video of the Year
Lady Gaga – "Bad Romance"
Best Male Video
Eminem – "Not Afraid"
Best Female Video
Lady Gaga – "Bad Romance"
Best New Artist
Justin Bieber (featuring Ludacris) – "Baby"
Best Pop Video
Lady Gaga – "Bad Romance"
Best Rock Video
Thirty Seconds to Mars – "Kings and Queens"
Best Hip-Hop Video
Eminem – "Not Afraid"
Best Dance Music Video
Lady Gaga – "Bad Romance"
Best Collaboration
Lady Gaga (featuring Beyoncé) – "Telephone"
Breakthrough Video
The Black Keys – "Tighten Up"
Best Direction
Lady Gaga – "Bad Romance" (Director: Francis Lawrence)
Best Choreography
Lady Gaga – "Bad Romance" (Choreographer: Laurieann Gibson)
Best Special Effects
Muse – "Uprising" (Special Effects: Humble and Sam Stephens)
Best Art Direction
Florence + the Machine – "Dog Days Are Over" (Art Directors: Louise Corcoran and Aldene Johnson)
Best Editing
Lady Gaga – "Bad Romance" (Editor: Jarrett Fijal)
Best Cinematography
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys – "Empire State of Mind" (Director of Photography: John Perez)
Latino Artist of the Year
Aventura
Appearances
Source: presenters
will.i.am's blackface criticism
Some viewers took offense to the producer/ rapper will.i.am's outfit, especially the dark makeup, which, to some fans, was reminiscent of the antiquated, racially charged practice of blackface. After fans blasted the rapper online, he took to Twitter to defend the look as artistic expression and not an embrace of the controversial maquillage typically used to lampoon African-Americans. Will.i.am responded to the backlash on his Twitter stating "1st. just because I where all black including head mask as expression and emphasize my outfit, it shouldn't be looked at as racial," Will tweeted. "Let go of the past. there are far more important things 2 bark about. (Jobs, health, education) not a black man wearing all black everything." Will.i.am insisted the face paint was a harmless costume choice and that fans concerned with the image Will's look projected should focus on larger issues.
Lady Gaga's meat dress
While accepting her award for Video of the Year, presented by legendary singer and actress Cher, Lady Gaga wore a dress made entirely from cuts of raw meat. The dress bore a resemblance to an artwork, Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic, created by Canadian artist Jana Sterbak in 1987. Along with the dress, her hat, shoes, and purse were all made from meat as well. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk issued a statement concerning the controversial outfit. After questioning whether the meat was real or not, Newkirk was quick to disparage Gaga saying, "Meat is the decomposing flesh of a tormented animal who didn't want to die, and after a few hours under the TV lights, it would smell like the rotting flesh it is and likely be crawling in maggots--not too attractive, really." Franc Fernandez, the designer of the meat dress, said later in an interview with MTV, “...it's not a sticky meat. It's not a messy dress at all, surprisingly. [...] It's actually very clean meat, very sturdy and strong and doesn't run at all. [...] The meat dries out, rather than rotting. It becomes jerky.” Gaga later explained to Ellen DeGeneres that the outfit exhibited her disapproval with the United States military's Don't ask, don't tell policy and further clarified, "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And I am not a piece of meat." She also commented on the outfit's nature, "...it is certainly no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I am the most judgment-free human being on the earth." Afterwards, DeGeneres, who is a vegan, jokingly gave Gaga a bikini and skirt made from lettuce and other various vegetables.