Here we have the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards from late August 2020, so these are slightly over three months old now. My review here is basically an extended version of the one other fella's review as I believe he is completely correct with his brief statement and I will elaborate on it in detail now why I think this one here is a definite contender for worst awards show of all time. MTV should be ashamed to release stuff like that. And what is even more pathetic is that there were many writers and directors in charge here, so you cannot just blame one, but they all messed up. Of course, this took place during corona times and you see that on many occasions here really. Regardless of what you think about corona and how you perceive it, there is no excuse for a music awards show to become as political as they did here. So many examples to name. Before I get to those, let me say that this awards show ran for minimally over 90 minutes without commercials. Here on imdb, it says 2.5 hours. This means that there were commercial breaks of approximately one hour here and this means 40% of the broadcast were commercials. No words for that at all. And what makes things even worse is that the show itself was packed with mentions of enterprises and companies that paid money to be part of the broadcast. Probably at least ten, but twenty seems more accurate, which means again one piece of extra advertizing every five minutes. Sometimes there were categories named after them or, on other occasions, they were just called sponsors. Absolutely repulsive. I don't think I have seen a more commercialized awards show ever and it truly was a disgrace. Everybody who was part of this show should be ashamed they are giving their name to something like that. Now, on to the political side: It already starts with them picking a Black woman to host the show, namely Keke Palmer. I have honestly no idea who she is, even if I heard the name before. So I checked and I see she is an actress with a not particularly memorable filmography. I mean could they not at least have picked somebody really talented? There are many impressive Black artists out there and that applies to both males and females. The good news is that Palmer had almost no screen time. Now let's talk a bit about how corona was represented during the show here. I will not even elaborate on the car audiences partying there. Everybody can make up their mind themselves about that. When Gaga and Grande perform their big hit on stage with the duo and everybody else wearing masks, I literally burst into laughter. The sight of that. The idea that they gave two awards to artists for best stay-at-home performance or something like that about music videos that were entirely filmed in houses/apartments is something that shows you exactly the political agenda here. Or what about this brief mention of everyday heroes, doctors and nurses? Not a bad idea by definition, so they had them sing a little bit and hey each of those people got like three seconds of screen time. After they probably performed the entire song when they got filmed. Now that is what I call disrespectful. But hey, screen time is important. I mean I already mentioned the hour of commercials and also we absolutely need the screen time to announce Pepsi is donating 100k here for the good cause. How thoughtful from them. I mean I will immediately follow suit once they introduce 0.5$ coins as that is probably the equivalent. But hey, it's not the money that counts. It's the message, right? So let's give awards to people for naming their songs "I can't breathe", about people that are victims of police brutality. The songs about pregnant women who are threatened by adult film actors at gunpoint we shall leave to others.

One reason why I found this show so despicable is also that it included the most disrespectful in memoriam sequence I have ever come across I think. Completely rushed-in, yet accompanied by a most pretentious introduction. And why were these two young Black rappers mentioned when honestly almost everybody depicted in this brief segment had far bigger careers, even some Black performers among those? Just take Little Richard. Also a Kraftwerk band member included there. May he rest in peace and honestly, I was surprised he was included at all. I just used the word "pretentious" and this also fits Lady Gaga from every perspective really. I mean I have never been too big on her, but how she turned this show into her own was absolutely embarrassing. Not just her to blame though, also the ones who let her do so. What can you say if people are giving her several competitive awards and also something like a career award!? Tricon Award was the exact name? Okay. Her acceptance speech for the latter may have been bad already and her rambling about how she failed, which may sound humble, but is in fact not humble at all for what she means is that she failed, but still succeeded in the long run to become the icon she is now. However, what was even more pretentious was her very first acceptance speech of the night. There she rambled on about how she and Ariana Grande (of course they are deep and meaningful friends now) turned "tears into diamonds". Sigh. I guess this is supposed to say that the music video there should be understood as something classy and artistic. Couldn't disagree more. But if lines like "I'd rather be dry, but at least I'm alive" are supposed to be seen as artistically relevant, then you know which direction we are heading. Deep down south, that is. Also the brain piano is self-explanatory. And don't even get me started on all the different costumes and especially mouth-nose protections Gaga was wearing that night. The epitome of a pseudo-rebellious artist who goes with and follows mainstream regulations in a way where she would make sure to not miss out on the slightest bit of political correctness. If these are the people defining and honored by MTV, then it is not just time to bury this awards show here, but the channel as a whole. I mean they have lost all integrity anyway by now and if there was any more evidence needed, then here you got it with the quantity of commercials and advertizing during these 1.5/2.5 hours. As for the final award of the night, I was actually glad that one did not go to Gaga (and Grande) or Swift for her terrible pseudo gender-equality statement song and music video (that she directed herself of course, no reason to be proud of looking at the outcome, but let's still give her an award for this mess),but instead it went to The Weeknd. Well, in terms of what I heard from this recording artist, my delight vanished equally quickly. One reason is already the opening to the show in which he performed and the number was so forgettable. Just like every other music number that was a part of the show. But the most cringeworthy thing about The Weeknd was really what he had to say during his acceptance speech. Well, both of them actually. Clearly he did not care one bit about the many people who helped him on his route to (questionable) success, so just made another political statement by mentioning two Black people who got victims (or "victims") of White police officers. But hey, the good news is they are struggling now already with coming up with two names even that got killed because the guy there is still alive. Pity they do not take a look at the thousands of Black people who got killed by other Blacks. But this does not fit the mainstream of course. You need to find the exceptions and turn them into the rule. Who cares about authenticity, realism or accuracy? I mean the fake wounds on The Weeknd's face were telling enough. This was to polarize, to stir up trouble and create more violence. Early on, we see also Black criminals jump around on police cars. Charming. Just a minor side effect that all those people (also many Black people killed by other Blacks again) who died during these riots are never mentioned in the media. Really ironic. Let the lootings begin! Okay, sorry for drifting a bit away now, but honestly this show here is much more of a political event than an awards show. And the moments when it actually is an awards show, it is as terrible as it gets. Just take this South Korean music sensation BTS. What is up with them? I mean nothing against their dancing and choreography, but singers they are not. Or at least not particularly talented singers. But they perfectly represent the demasculinization that is a big thing now too and has been pushed forward by the mainstream since the #metoo movement began. So let's also include it on this show now. Okay, this is pretty much it then I suppose. As for the other people on here: Machine Gun Kelly never did anything for me. Kelly Clarkson I really liked early in her career, shame what she turned into, but at least she wasn't singing. BEP (with or without the BLM statement) are way past their prime and I am even saying this as somebody who never really liked Fergie. Undeniable. Megan Thee Stallion. No words for her. Doja Cat on her alien planet not doing anything really for me either. Also MTV giving awards to MTV Unplugged at home? I don't even. And what was up with some awards not even included during the broadcast like for example Coldplay's win. Other awards got rushed in in a most pathetic manner. Also, why is Nicole Richie in this? Overall, you can say here that the only winners are those that were not a part of this show, especially those who do not associate themselves with MTV whatsoever because this entire show was a gigantic failure from beginning to end. I never give one out of ten, but here I would and with no hesitation at all. Absolutely not recommended. One of the worst awards shows of all time. I would call it a Dauerwerbesendung as we say here in Germany, which means infomercial, but this would imply that this show delivered some kind of valuable information, which is 100% not the case. Most gentle way to put it.

Straight up, through and through political show.

It's not about the music, anymore!