VMA iconic moments that shaped the early 2000s and why they impact us today

By Georgie Hewson, ABC

From a surprise pregnancy reveal to Madonna and Britney's infamous kiss to Lady Gaga singing while covered in fake blood, the MTV Video Music Awards have hosted memorable performances.

This year, for the 40th MTV VMAs, audiences will actually be able to vote on what they think was the most iconic performance in a new category.

But it is not just the planned portions of the evening that has put the show in the spotlight over the past four decades.

It is also the place where many famous celebrity feuds, bizarre interruptions and political statements have been made.

Let's unpack all the major, iconic and sometimes bizarre moments from VMA history.

That Madonna/Britney/Christina kiss

It may have happened more than 20 years ago, but few could forget the worldwide stir the early naughties' VMA performance by Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera caused.

The year was 2003 and pop music's top acts at the time teamed up to perform a medley of Madonna's hits Like a Virgin and Hollywood.

The performance was a throw-back to the first ever VMAs in 1984 where Madonna performed Like a Virgin in a full-length wedding gown.

This time, Britney and Christina wore white bridal outfits, while Madonna donned a tuxedo-style black outfit.

The show finished dramatically when Madonna kissed Britney and then Christina on the lips.

The moment became front page news across multiple US publications and attracted conservative criticism for the 'raunchy' kiss.

"I had no idea it would cause the raucous it has caused," Madonna told Oprah Winfrey in an interview two weeks later.

Winfrey remarked she didn't know if America had "seen two girls kiss before".

In her book, the Woman in Me, Spears wrote that while rehearsing the performance the group did an air kiss, but she said two minutes or so before the performance she decided they would kiss on the lips.

"I thought to myself: I want a moment like that again this year. With the kiss, should I just go for it?" she wrote, noting how it became "a huge cultural moment".

However, in 2023 on the 20th anniversary of the kiss, an MTV executive told Rolling Stone it was Madonna's idea.

"We might never know who orchestrated it," Dr Liz Giuffre, a senior lecturer in Communication and Music at the University of Technology Sydney said.

"But at the time it did break boundaries and the VMAs were and are all about how you grab people as a performance.

"Madonna's legacy at the VMAs has always been about being contemporary and quite cutting-edge."

Giuffre said it was likely the kiss would not prompt the same type of criticism in 2024.

"If that happened now people would think 'big deal' or... maybe Madonna might have been criticised for queerbaiting," she said.

"It's great to see how moments that were controversial like the Madonna/Britney kiss now may just be seen as part of the mainstream - via that big VMA exposure.

"I'd be interested to see what political statements come out of this year's VMAs [in comparison] maybe sexuality isn't taboo and the new taboo at award shows will be if an artist makes a political statement."

Britney Spears holds a live snake

Spears's 2001 VMA performance of I'm a Slave 4 U is undoubtedly one of the most iconic performances of her career.

Just 20 years old at the time, she performed the song while holding a giant, yellow Burmese python after entering the stage in a cage with a tiger.

While she didn't miss a single note, the pop star has later said just how terrified she was.

"All I knew was to look down, because I felt if I looked up and caught its eye, it would kill me," she wrote in the Woman in Me.

But the performance wasn't without controversy.

PETA sent Spears a letter ahead of the show, asking she remove the use of live animals from her performance.

The handler of that big cat was actually Doc Antle of Tiger King fame, who was convicted of money laundering and animals trafficking in 2023.

The look worn by Spears at the height of her career is still a famous Halloween costume and has been recreated in several popular TV shows, including Glee and Ginny and Georgia.

we absolutely freaked it pic.twitter.com/x0xPXTVaR7

— keely (@keelytaylor) October 30, 2021

Kanyegate

Not every note-worthy event at the VMAs was planned.

The interruption of Taylor Swift during an acceptance speech by Kanye West in 2009 became a moment that defined both of their careers and music for the next decade.

Swift, who was 20 at the time, was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for the song You Belong With Me when West walked on stage and took the microphone out of her hand.

"Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'mma let you finish," he said.

"But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time."

West was referring to Beyonce's nomination in the same category for the music video for Single Ladies.

The camera cut to a shocked Beyonce in the crowd who mouthed "Oh my God" at the camera.

West was booed and left the stage while Swift stood there frozen.

"I was standing on stage and I was really excited because I had just won the award and then I was really excited because Kanye West was on stage and then I... um wasn't so excited anymore," she said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight after the award ceremony.

The fallout of the incident was shown in her 2019 documentary Miss Americana.

Even the President of the United States at the time allegedly weighed in.

Barack Obama allegedly called West a "jackass" during off-the-record chatter as he was being miked for an interview with CNBC anchor John Harwood.

In a 2009 article, the LA Times reported that another journalist quickly tweeted what he said he heard the president say.

Hop in our time machine ✨ @TheSlayGawd is taking us on a trip to the 2009 #VMAs to relive some ICONIC moments!! pic.twitter.com/vVjvaJUpit

— Video Music Awards (@vmas) August 28, 2024

Then, in 2015, it appeared the pair had patched it up when Swift presented West with the Video Vanguard award.

She even poked fun at the moment.

West's acceptance speech for his Video Vanguard award was also when he announced he would run for president in 2020.

The next year their feud would reignite when he released the song Famous, name dropping the singer in the song which she maintains was done without her blessing.

Beyonce reveals her first pregnancy

Speaking of Beyonce, the iconic pop diva has manufactured a few of her own iconic moments at the VMAs.

In 2011, Beyonce was finishing up her performance of Love on Top when she opened her blazer to reveal she was pregnant with her first child.

Putting her hand on her middle, she laughed as the crowd cheered.

The camera cut to her husband Jay Z clapping and being cheered on by Kanye West.

Then to add to the spectacle, Lady Gaga dressed in drag and seated next to American jazz singer Tony Bennett started to jump and punch the air.

It's a lot to unpack.

Lady Gaga's meat dress and Paparazzi performance

It wouldn't be an award show without a fashion statement and Lady Gaga has always turned heads with her red carpet and performance looks.

One of her most famous outfits, a dress made from cuts of beef was worn at the 2010 VMAs.

Designed by Argentinian designer Franc Fernandez, the frock divided viewers.

Animal rights groups condemned the choice while Time Magazine called it the "top fashion statement of the year".

It came after Gaga's performance of Paparazzi in the previous year's show where she progressively became covered in fake blood as the song went on.

Another VMA's performance that will no doubt go down in history.

Miley Cyrus twerking

No-one else ruffled more feathers on the VMAs stage during the early 2010s quite like Miley Cyrus.

The Disney child-star turned pop queen was 20 years old when she sent parent groups into a frenzy over her VMAs performance of Blurred Lines with Robin Thicke in 2013.

Despite Thicke being the writer of a song which contains the refrain "I hate these blurred lines / I know you want it" and has been condemned by critics who say the lyrics refer to the issue of sexual consent - Cyrus received the most backlash for her performance.

In a nude-coloured latex bikini, brandishing a foam finger, Cyrus danced provocatively and grinded on Thicke.

In a charged statement the Parents Television Council said "MTV continues to sexually exploit young women by promoting acts that incorporate 'twerking' in a nude-colored bikini".

'Miley What's Good?'

The awkward exchange between host Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj was a stand-out moment from the 2015 VMA.

But it actually all started with Taylor Swift.

When Minaj's song Anaconda did not get nominated for video of the year she wrote on X "when the 'other' girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get nomination".

"If your video celebrates women with slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year."

It is believed Minaj was referring to Taylor Swift, who's video Bad Blood was nominated in that category.

Enter Miley Cyrus.

When asked about the debate in a New York Times interview leading up to the awards, she called Minaj "not too kind".

"It's not very polite," she said.

"I think there's a way to speak to people with openness and love ... you don't have to start this pop star against pop star."

Minaj did go on to win Best Female Video and used her speech to bring attention to Cyrus's comments.

"Back to this b***" who had a lot to say about me the other day in the press; Miley, what's good?"

Still on stage as host, Cyrus replied "Hey, we're all in this industry, we all do interviews, we all now how they manipulate."

"Nicki, Congratu-f****-lations".

Mic stolen off Panic! At the Disco

Taylor Swift wasn't the first artist whose acceptance speech was hijacked at the VMAs.

In 2006, Panic! At the Disco were accepting their award for Video fo the Year when filmmaker Nicholas 'Sixx' King jumped on the stage and took the microphone.

"What's up MTV how y'all doing, my name is Sixx," he said.

"MTV never gave me my own show so I want everybody around the world to log on to MTVsixthousand.com and give it up for these guys."

The crowd booed as he left the stage.

"Wow, stealing my thunder," lead singer Brandon Urie joked once he was given the microphone.

Despite the interruption, the band has said little about the experience since it happened.

But perhaps, Urie and Swift bonded over their shared VMA interruptions when they worked together on the song 'Me!' for her 2019 album Lover.

Pink and Shakira wear the same dress

The clashes don't just happen on the VMA stage.

In 2009, Pink and Shakira both arrived at the red carpet in the same, black Balmain mini dress.

But both pop stars saw the humour in the fashion faux pas and posed together for a picture.

Speaking to the red carpet reporter who alerted her to the coincidence, Shakira said she "loved it".

"I'm laughing because my stylist told me 'Oh my God, this is one of a kind, nobody has this'."

"I like her [Pink], she's got good taste."

"That's hilarious," Pink told the reporter.

So how can I watch the VMAs?

The VMAs will air in on Thursday, 12 September from about noon (NZ time).

ABC News will be live blogging the ceremony and red carpet, which can be followed on the ABC News Website. The red carpet pre-show will be available on MTV's YouTube account.

This year marks 29 first-time nominees, which include Wallen, Carpenter and Swims as well as Benson Boone and Tyla - the latter boast three nominations each.

Megan Thee Stallion will host.

Taylor Swift once again tops this year's nominations with 10, followed closely behind by Post Malone with nine nominations.

Katy Perry will receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award for lifetime achievement.

Voting has now closed.

- ABC