MTV GALA GUNS FOR ‘NAZIS’
Los Angeles: Rapper Kendrick Lamar dominated the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday as the glitzy gala took a political turn with impassioned denunciations of white supremacists in America.
Lamar won the most prestigious award of Video of the Year for HUMBLE., his ironic look at his growing fame in which he dresses up as everything from the pope to Jesus in The Last Supper.
Lamar opened the show in Los Angeles with a martial arts-themed performance with ninja dancers, one of whom eerily appeared to set himself ablaze. One of the most acclaimed rappers of recent times, Lamar took home six statuettes — rechristened the Moon Person from Moonman to be gender-neutral. English songwriter Ed Sheeran won
Artist of the Year, a new prize after the separate male and female categories were merged, while rapper Khalid won for new artist.
While Lamar’s latest album DAMN. toned down his earlier political bent, the globally televised awards gala itself did anything but.
The mother of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old antiracism protester killed when an avowed white supremacist drove into a crowd during the August 12 unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia, took the stage and vowed to “make Heather’s death count.” Controlling her emotions, Susan Bro announced a foundation in her daughter’s name to offer scholarships to pursue careers in social justice.