2020 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2020. Keke Palmer hosted the 37th annual ceremony, which was presented primarily from New York City, but with a virtual ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first VMA ceremony to be broadcast on The CW.
2020 MTV Video Music Awards
Sunday, August 30, 2020
MTV Headquarters, (New York City, New York)
- Lady Gaga
- Ariana Grande (9 each)
Bruce Gillmer
Jesse Ignjatovic
Dave Diomedi
Sam Wrench
Lady Gaga was the most awarded act of the night with five awards, as well as the most nominated alongside Ariana Grande, with both artists receiving nine nominations each. Gaga was presented with the inaugural MTV Tricon Award for achievements in three or more fields of entertainment. The longlist of nominees for Push Best New Artist were revealed on July 23, 2020; nominees for other categories were announced on July 30. Fan voting began on July and ended on August 23. Nominees for Song of Summer, Best Group and Everyday Heroes: Frontline Medical Workers were released on August 24. The show was dedicated to Chadwick Boseman, who died of colon cancer two days before the ceremony.[2] The show received 6.4 million viewers in its first-run viewing (excluding livestreams through network apps), a 5% decrease from the 6.8 million viewers at the previous ceremony.[3]
Ceremony information[edit]
The awards were originally scheduled to return to the Barclays Center for the first time since 2013.[4] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was expected to be held with "limited or no audience", as one of the first major indoor events to be held in the city since the onset of the pandemic in the state, with MTV also announcing plans for the show to "[span] all five boroughs" to "pay homage to the strength, spirit and incredible resilience of NYC and its beloved residents".[4]
MTV eventually scrapped the indoor component of the ceremony at Barclays after "close consultation with state and local health officials" and announced that it would be conducted in an outdoor format across the city; the arena in Brooklyn would subsequently host the 2021 event instead.[5] The majority of performances were pre-recorded either in New York City (with locations such as Hudson Yards and a drive-in theatre in Brooklyn), or on a chroma key set at the MTV studios headquarters with New York scenery for acts unable to travel to New York City (primarily in Los Angeles, and Seoul in the case of BTS).[6]
New one-off award categories for "Quarantine Performance" and "Best Music Video from Home" were added on July 30 in light of the ongoing pandemic.[7] Three additional categories were announced on August 24: Song of Summer, Best Group and "Everyday Heroes: Frontline Medical Workers", with the latter created "to celebrate performances by COVID-19 first responders".[8][9]
In addition to the ViacomCBS family of networks, the VMAs were also simulcast on terrestrial television by The CW (a joint venture of ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia).[10] The CW also aired a post-show recap special, composed mostly of pre-show performance footage.[11]