5 Reasons The MTV VMAs Were An Absolute Shambles

Every year, music fans turn their attention to their TV screens to watch the MTV VMAs, and every year it feels as if the quality of music award shows fall lower and lower. This year's VMAs may just take the cake for worst year yet, and here are 5 reasons why the MTV VMAs were an absolute shambles:

1. Katy Perry's Cringeworthy Skits

We love Katy Perry as much as the next person, and this one really isn't her fault. Whoever wrote the jokes that she's telling is really at fault here. From the whole being out of touch gimmick to keep fidget spinners relevant to the random jab at the Fyre Festival, there really wasn't much quality or humor in any of the jokes. Fred Armisen was pretty good, though.

2. Cutting Off The Chester Bennington Tribute

Losing Chester Bennington this year was one of the biggest blows to the music industry that the world has seen in a long time. No performances in specific were made to commemorate him, but Thirty Seconds To Mars's Jared Leto stepped up to the plate to offer a beautiful eulogy to his friend Chester and the Chris Cornell. Moments after his speech, footage of Linkin Park performing 'The Catalyst' from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California in 2010 was shown... for all of 30 seconds. Instead of showing a tribute to one of modern music's most influential voices, they cut to commercials. Classy move, MTV. Really showing the care.

3. Cutting Off Julia Michaels

Not every artist who performs will be a massive star, but everyone deserves an equal chance. We get a weird mashup of Ed Sheeran's 'Shape Of You' and Lil Uzi Vert's 'XO Tour Llif3' (read our review of Luv Is Rage 2 here) but when it's singer/songwriter Julia Michaels' turn, no. Halfway through a special performance of her huge single 'Issues,' MTV cut to commercial breaks.  Perhaps it's not a coincidence they cut Chester's tribute off too, since Julia worked on Linkin Park's 'Heavy' earlier this year, too. 

4. Cutting Off Every Performance Of A Smaller Artist

Not only did the VMAs cut off a tribute and Julia Michaels, but it felt like every artist who needs an opportunity to grow got cut off. Kyle was cut off in the middle of his performance to show an acoustic performance of James Arthur's 'Say You Won't Let Go.' It's not just a blow to fans, but a blow to the artist. There's 0 respect in cutting off a performance in the middle of it. Not cool.

5. The Lack Of Class Throughout The Entire Show

As far as award shows go, music shows are always seen as the bottom of the barrel. If it's not the GRAMMYs disrespecting any artist that's not a pop star, it's MTV kissing every pop star's ass. Was it necessary to show Taylor Swift's entire music video on the show, while you don't have time to show full performances or tributes? There were moments of class, though they had nothing to do with MTV. Lorde performed a dance to 'Homemade Dynamite' instead of singing because she had the flu and didn't want to cancel. Jared Leto's speech was classy too. When he asked the audience to stand up twice (even remarking "I'll wait here all day") and no one did, it's pretty obvious that this show had nothing going for it.

Music award shows have always been the worst of the big ones, but the MTV VMAs proved the reason why: they're all in it for the money. If the artist doesn't have a certain popularity or if they aren't a pop star, the organizers won't care. These were 5 reasons the MTV VMAs were an absolute shambles, and there were plenty more, but these were some big ones.