| 2009 MTV Video Music Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Date | Sunday, September 13, 2009 | |||
| Location | Radio City Music Hall (New York City) | |||
| Country | United States | |||
| Hosted by | Russell Brand | |||
| Most awards | Beyoncé,Green Day and Lady Gaga (3) | |||
| Most nominations | Beyoncé andLady Gaga (9) | |||
| Website | http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2009/  | |||
| Television/radio coverage | ||||
| Network | MTV andVH1 | |||
| Produced by | Jesse Ignjatovic Dave Sirulnick | |||
| Directed by | Hamish Hamilton | |||
| ||||
The2009 MTV Video Music Awards, honoring the best music videos from the previous year between June 2008 to June 2009, were presented on September 13, 2009, at theRadio City Music Hall in New York City, and televised byMTV. The ceremony was hosted byRussell Brand for the 2nd consecutive year.
Beyoncé,Green Day, andLady Gaga were tied for the most-awarded acts of the night, winning three awards each. Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" won the award forVideo of the Year, while Beyoncé and Lady Gaga were both tied for the largest number of nominations with nine, followed byBritney Spears with seven. In the aftermath of hisJune 2009 death, the show featured various tributes toMichael Jackson, including an opening act featuring a medley of Jackson's biggest hits and a special appearance byJanet Jackson to perform her duet "Scream", a eulogy fromMadonna, and the premiere of a trailer for the posthumous documentary filmMichael Jackson's This Is It.
The ceremony was marred by an incident in whichKanye WestinterruptedTaylor Swift's acceptance of the award forBest Female Video, in order to proclaim that despite her victory, Beyoncé still had "one of the best videos of all time", referring to the aforementioned "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". When Beyoncé was eventually awarded Video of the Year, she acknowledged the moment when she had won herfirst VMA as part ofDestiny's Child, and invited Swift back onstage to finish her acceptance speech. The incident was highly publicized, withRolling Stone naming it the "wildest" moment in the history of the VMAs in 2013.
The broadcast was seen by a total of 9 million viewers, a 17% increase over2008, making it the most-watched VMAs since2004.[1][2]
| Performer(s) | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| Main show | |
| This Is It Backup Dancers Janet Jackson | Tribute toMichael Jackson "Thriller" "Bad" "Smooth Criminal" "Scream"(with Jackson) |
| Katy Perry Joe Perry | "We Will Rock You" |
| Taylor Swift | "You Belong with Me" |
| Lady Gaga | "Poker Face"(intro) "Paparazzi" |
| Green Day | "East Jesus Nowhere" |
| Beyoncé | "Sweet Dreams"(intro) "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" |
| Muse | "Uprising"(from theWalter Kerr Theatre) |
| Pink | "Sober" |
| Jay-Z Alicia Keys | "Empire State of Mind" |
RapperWale and go-go band UCB served as the house band for the show, performing right before, during, and right after commercial breaks. Throughout the show they also had various special guests and performed the following songs:
Winners are inbold text.[3]
Eight localMTV VMA Best Breakout Artist Awards were awarded. The table below lists the number of bands considered in each city, the three finalist nominees selected by MTV for each VMA, and the winner in bold.[4][5] The winners were featured on MTV on local cable during the live VMAs and received featured coverage on MTV andMTV2 (orMTV Tr3́s in the case of the LA contest).[4]
| New York City | Bay Area | Atlanta | Chicago | Boston | Philadelphia | Washington, DC | Los Angeles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
of over 190 entries |
of 129 entries |
of over 150 entries
|
of over 150 entries
|
of over 150 entries
|
of over 150 entries
|
of over 170 entries
|
of 116 entries |
| Wins | Artist |
|---|---|
| 3 | Beyoncé |
| Green Day | |
| Lady Gaga |
| Nominations | Artist |
|---|---|
| 9 | Beyoncé |
| Lady Gaga | |
| 7 | Britney Spears |
| 4 | Coldplay |
| Eminem | |
| Kanye West | |
| 3 | Gnarls Barkley |
| Green Day | |
| 2 | Cobra Starship |
| Jay-Z | |
| Asher Roth |
AsTaylor Swift was giving her Best Female Video acceptance speech for "You Belong with Me",Kanye West went on stage, took the microphone from her, and said: "Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'mma let you finish, butBeyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!", referring to the music video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". As the live audience booed, West shrugged his shoulders, handed the microphone back to Swift, and walked off stage.[13][14]
West was subsequently removed from the show.[13][14] Later in the show, Beyoncé won Video of the Year for "Single Ladies" and called Swift back onstage to let her finish her speech.[15]
Various celebrities and industry figures,[13][16][17][18] as well as prominent political figures including then United States PresidentBarack Obama,[19] former PresidentJimmy Carter,[20] and future PresidentDonald Trump[21] condemned West for his verbal outburst at Swift. West apologized on his blog and during an appearance onThe Jay Leno Show.[22]
Emil Wilbekin, managing editor ofEssence magazine, argued that West went too far with his actions, compared to the past: "I think that it was not Kanye's place to speak for Beyoncé or to ruin Taylor Swift's moment... It's OK for Kanye to rattle off about himself, but I think he crossed the line when he decided to speak for other people."[13]Los Angeles Times contributor Ann Powers opined that "from one vantage point, it was a case of chivalry gone horribly wrong" as West meant to "stand up for" Beyoncé.[23] Powers was cynical about the onstage embrace Beyoncé and Swift shared, calling it "staged" and stating that it added "another layer of meaning to an already complicated moment. Now this controversy was about women sticking up for each other, too."[23]
In 2013,Rolling Stone named the incident the wildest moment in VMA history.[24] The outburst resulted in ameme consisting of images of West being superimposed onto other images with text in the style of his interruption as asnowclone ("X is one of the greatest Y of all time", or variants thereon, in some cases preceded by "I'm really happy for you" and/or "I'mma let you finish")."[25] West later referenced the incident in his 2016 single "Famous", controversially claiming that he made Swift famous through it.[26]