2010 MTV Video Music Awards

2010 MTV Video Music Awards
Date	Sunday, September 12, 2010
Location	Nokia Theatre (Los Angeles, California)
Country	United States
Hosted by	Chelsea Handler[1]
Most awards	Lady Gaga (8)
Most nominations	Lady Gaga (13)
Television/radio coverage
Network	MTV and VH1
Produced by	Jesse Ignjatovic Dave Sirulnick
Directed by	Hamish Hamilton
← 2009 · MTV Video Music Awards · 2011 →

The 2010

Being nominated 13 times, Lady Gaga became the most-nominated artist in VMA history for a single year and subsequently became the first female artist to receive two nominations for Video of the Year when both "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" were nominated for the award.^[2] She was also the top winner of the night when "Telephone" won Best Collaboration and "Bad Romance" won seven separate awards including Video of the Year, bringing her total number of moonmen to eight. When she accepted her award for Video of the Year, she also announced the title of her second studio album, Born This Way and sang an excerpt from the title track.^[3] She accepted the award while wearing a dress complete with a hat, purse, and shoes all made entirely from cuts of raw meat, which drew backlash from PETA.^[4]

Overall, the show grabbed 11.4 million viewers – the largest audience for a Video Music Awards show since 2002.^[5]

The house artist was Deadmau5. The following performed along with him:

• Travie McCoy – "Billionaire"
• Jason Derulo – "Ridin' Solo"
• Robyn – "Dancing on My Own"

Outside in the parking lot there were the following performances:^{[citation needed]}

• N.E.R.D. and Ciara – "Hot-n-Fun"

Source: Performers

Winners are in bold text.

• Sway Calloway – presented Best Dance Music Video and Best Collaboration

• Rick Ross, Flo Rida and Lil Jon
  – appeared in the opening sketch
• Ellen DeGeneres – presented Best Female Video
• The cast of Jackass 3D – presented Best Rock Video
• Kim Kardashian – introduced Justin Bieber
• Usher
• Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj – presented Best Male Video
• Jared Leto and Ashley Greene – introduced Florence and the Machine
• Cory Monteith, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley and Jane Lynch – presented Best Pop Video
• Rosario Dawson and Chris Pine – introduced Taylor Swift
• Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake – introduced Drake, Mary J. Blige and Swizz Beatz
• Joe Manganiello and Evan Rachel Wood – introduced the winners of the professional categories
• The cast of Jersey Shore – appeared in an on-stage skit with host
• Sofía Vergara – presented Best Hip-Hop Video
• Selena Gomez and Ne-Yo – introduced B.o.B, Bruno Mars and Paramore
• Romeo and Victoria Justice – presented Best New Artist
• Emma Stone and Penn Badgley – introduced Linkin Park
• Cher – presented Video of the Year
• Aziz Ansari – introduced Kanye West

Source: presenters

Some viewers took offense to the producer/ rapper will.i.am's outfit, especially the dark makeup, which, to some fans, was reminiscent of the antiquated, racially charged practice of blackface. After fans blasted the rapper online, he took to Twitter to defend the look as artistic expression and not an embrace of the controversial maquillage typically used to lampoon African-Americans. Will.i.am responded to the backlash on his Twitter stating "1st. just because I where all black including head mask as expression and emphasize my outfit, it shouldn't be looked at as racial," Will tweeted. "Let go of the past. there are far more important things 2 bark about. (Jobs, health, education) not a black man wearing all black everything." Will.i.am insisted the face paint was a harmless costume choice and that fans concerned with the image Will's look projected should focus on larger issues.^[7]

While accepting her award for Video of the Year, presented by legendary singer and actress

• 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards