2010 MTV Video Music Awards
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.[1]
2010 MTV Video Music Awards
Sunday, September 12, 2010
United States
Lady Gaga (8)
Lady Gaga (13)
Jesse Ignjatovic
Dave Sirulnick
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.[2] 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.[3] She accepted the award while wearing a dress complete with a hat, purse, and shoes all made entirely from cuts of raw meat which drew backlash from PETA.[4]
Overall, the show grabbed 11.4 million viewers – the largest audience for a Video Music Awards show since 2002.[5]
The house artist was Deadmau5. The following performed along with him:
Outside in the parking lot there were the following performances:
Source: Performers
Controversy[edit]
will.i.am's blackface criticism[edit]
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.[7]