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Home / Entertainment

The madness of this year's MTV awards in five defining moments

Eli Orzessek
By Eli Orzessek
Digital Producer - Travel·Herald online·
31 Aug, 2015 04:14 AM3 mins to read

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Some of this years' best MTV VMA moments. Photos / Getty, AP

Some of this years' best MTV VMA moments. Photos / Getty, AP

It's the awards show that's always been more about shock value than giving out prizes. This year's MTV Video Music Awards was no different. Here's this year's five defining moments ....

1. Nicki Minaj makes nice with Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj put the "Bad Blood" behind them. Photo / Getty Images
Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj put the "Bad Blood" behind them. Photo / Getty Images

The MTV Video Music Awards opened with a performance by Nicki Minaj, which included a surprise appearance by Taylor Swift. The pair's duet on Bad Blood was particularly meaningful, as last month they became entrenched in a Twitter beef that started when Minaj felt she had been overlooked in the Video of the Year category.

Swift - who was nominated - accused the Anaconda rapper of "pitting women against each other" and words were exchange. However, it seems now they've symbolically resolved the Bad Blood between them - or at least pretended to.

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2. Nicki Minaj is less nice with Miley Cyrus

"@h_lxy: NICKI JUST THREW SOME MAJOR SHADE AT MILEY OH MY GOD #VMAs pic.twitter.com/yK0DWsBFUr" .......

— Khali (@KhaliTheKing) August 31, 2015

The resolution of the Minaj/Swift feud didn't mean there wasn't any beef at the VMAs though. After receiving the award for Best Hip Hop Video, Minaj lashed out at host Miley Cyrus for her comments on the Swift Twitter incident in an interview.

"And now back to this b**** that had a lot to say about me in the press," she said, staring at a visibly rattled Cyrus from across the stage and angrily adding: "Miley? What's good?"

3. Bieber blubbers

Justin Bieber has an emotional moment. Photo / Getty Images
Justin Bieber has an emotional moment. Photo / Getty Images

Justin Bieber's VMA performance was considered to be a symbolic comeback after a couple of years of rather public bad behaviour. It seems the adoring crowd, who welcomed him back with open arms, became a little too much for the Biebs, who broke down in tears at the end of his set.

4. Miley gets something off her chest

Miley Cyrus wore all manner of crazy costume, but revealed more than expected. Photo / AP
Miley Cyrus wore all manner of crazy costume, but revealed more than expected. Photo / AP

With Miley Cyrus hosting the show, viewers were prepared for a scandalous moment from the start - she even posted a nude snap on Instagram prior to the event. However, her tenure as host turned out to be largely uneventful - but she did manage to slip in one #FreeTheNipple moment. As she appeared topless behind a curtain backstage, the fabric accidentally - or perhaps not so accidentally - slipped down, revealing her bare breast.

And that's not all she revealed - the Wrecking Ball singer dropped a new album as "Miley Cyrus and her Dead Petz" - which is mostly the results of her work with forthcoming NZ summer festival visitors the Flaming Lips - released for free online.

5. Kanye trumps them all

Kanye West for president, anyone? Photo / Getty Images
Kanye West for president, anyone? Photo / Getty Images

Of course, the crowning moment of the 2015 MTV VMAs was always going to be Kanye West's acceptance speech for the Michael Jackson Vanguard Award. After making a name for himself interrupting other people's' speeches, West really let loose in his own onstage moment - which concluded with his surprise announcement that he will run for president in 2020.

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