2024 mtv music video awards

Tyla Shut Down An Online Controversy Over Her VMAs Request With An Astute Observation

by
tyla lil nas x halle vmas
Getty Image

These days, it seems like folks on the internet can turn just about anything into a controversy. Case in point: During Tyla’s acceptance speech at last night’s MTV VMAs, she made a simple, relatable request that commenters on Twitter (never calling it “X”) twisted into a case of… bullying(?) one of the two presenters, fellow singer Halle Bailey. While being presented the moon person for Best Afrobeats, she expressed surprise at the weight of the statuette, joking, “I’m not strong enough!”

Offering the moon person to Lil Nas X, who was presenting alongside Halle, Tyla asked, “Can you hold it for me?” Twitter promptly lit up with accusations that she wanted Halle to hold it for her (although Nas was the one who ended up taking it). “Halle said baby I am NOT the help,” wrote one commentewrote one commenter Hold your own award boo. Tyla tried it.” Another added, “Halle tried handing her the cards & she brushed her off but expected her to hold her award.”

Tyla herself, though, wasn’t having any of it, shutting down such speculation with an astute observation: “Y’all make everything weird… I was not asking my girl Halle… We just girls.” She also offered those detractors some friendly advice: “STFU I WON A VMAAAA.”

Ever since her single “Water” became a ubiquitous hit, Tyla has become something of a lightning rod for manufactured controversy. In a recent interview with the Breakfast Club, she was asked a question about her coloured identity — which she had specifically asked them not to do — and before that, she was criticized for taking a photo with Representative Nancy Pelosi by fans who disagreed with Pelosi’s policies (if they even know what those polices are).

For all these folks, here’s some more advice, free of charge: Seek therapy.

LL Cool J Gave The 2024 VMAs Crowd A Hip-Hop History Lesson With His Medley Performance

by

The official Hip-Hop 50 celebration may have wrapped up last year, but LL kept the hip-hop history lesson going at the 2024 MTV VMAs. His medley performance not only included songs from his newly released fourteenth studio album, The FORCE, but also encompassed many of his signature hits going back to his glory days in hip-hop’s Golden Age. Opening with “Headsprung” (remixed with the now-familiar Mohawks sample, “The Champ,” rather than its original Timbaland-produced beat) then transforming into Public Enemy’s “Bring The Noise” (with a surprise appearance from Chuck D himself), the veteran performer also went through “Rock The Bells” before hitting newer songs like “Passion” and “Proclivities” before returning to another classic: “Doin’ It.” You can watch the full performance above.

Ironically, LL’s performance was nearly upstaged during a shot of the audience featuring a woman standing motionless, staring at the stage, and grinning in such an eerie way, that it seems almost certain that she was an actor planted to promote the upcoming horror thriller Smile 2. Unfortunately, though, LL didn’t perform “Murdergram Deux,” his collaboration with Eminem, who also performed tonight to open the VMAs, but probably did leave before LL’s performance.

You can still check out a full list of VMA winners here.

GloRilla Got Down To Business In Her 2024 VMAs Performance Of ‘Yeah Glo!’ And ‘TGIF’

by

The crowd at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards was left yelling, “Yeah, Glo!” after GloRilla’s performance of that song, decked out in a black-and-white suit, which turned into a skimpy bikini as she performed “TGIF” atop a conference table, replete with the flames that seemed like a prerequisite for pretty much every other performance of the night.

The Memphis native is fresh off the release of her second mixtape, Ehhthang Ehhthang, which produced “Wanna Be” with Megan Thee Stallion, its remix with Cardi B, and “All Dere” with Moneybagg Yo. She also joined Megan Thee Stallion on her Hot Girl Summer Tour, realized that Cardi B is her cousin, and had a slew of various wardrobe malfunctions. She was also presented with the key to the city of Memphis, making her very much a hometown hero and a burgeoning superstar.

She and Meg also apparently have plans to drop a joint album in the near future, with Meg saying, “I ain’t gon’ say too much, but it feels like it’s going to get done.” Not bad for a pair of rappers who say they weren’t sure about each other when they first met.

You can check out GloRilla’s performance video above, and keep up with the full list of VMAs winners here.

Flavor Flav Surprised Jordan Chiles With A Bejeweled Clock Necklace And A Promise Of Covering Her Olympic Prize Money

by
flavor flav jordan chiles 2024 MTV Video Music Awards - Arrivals
Getty Image

The 2024 MTV VMAs’ opening was Olympics-coded. Host Megan Thee Stallion delivered her opening monologue in a gymnastics-adjacent leotard because, as she said, she is “repping Team VMA.” Meg also clarified that “VMA” stands for the Voluptuous Megan Awards” and declared that she deserves “a gold medal for being a bad b*tch!” Megan Thee Stallion kicked it over to Flavor Flav and USA Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles to present the night’s first category, Best Collaboration.

But before announcing the winner, Flavor Flav had more important business to take care of. The iconic rapper, pop cultural icon, and newly minted Team USA mascot gifted Chiles a bedazzled pink clock necklace to replace her Olympic bronze medal that she was controversially (and wrongfully, but that’s a discussion for another day) stripped of.

“I know they tried to take your medal away from you,” Flav said, as captured by Deadline, and briefly paused to account for the audience booing. “I got you something that they can’t take away from you.”

Flavor Flav put the gigantic clock around Chiles’ neck, and Chiles thanked Flavor Flav while the crowd applauded.

“As you know, I am an official sponsor for the United States Olympic Water Polo team,” Flav continued. “So, that’s why I wanted to turn this into an Olympic moment, Jordan, a’ight? And guess what else, too? I got your prize money, too.”

Before the 2024 Paris Olympics got underway in July, Megan Thee Stallion sent Chiles a bouquet of flowers to send her off.

Chiles won the women’s team gold medal alongside her teammates, and she had been awarded the bronze medal for individual floor, but days later, the Romanian team filed a petition to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The CAS ruled to reinstate the initial scoring, awarding the bronze to Romanian Ana Barbosu and ordering Chiles return hers. See the full timeline of the controversy here.

Oh, and Post Malone and Taylor Swift won Best Collaboration for “Fortnight.”