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. 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:
Travie McCoy – "Billionaire"
Jason Derulo – "Ridin' Solo"
Robyn – "Dancing on My Own"
Outside in the parking lot there were the following performances:
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. 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, , created by Canadian artistJana 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.
