MTV might be making a major controversial change before their annual Video Music Awards.
The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award has been presented to artists since 1991 for their visual arts and visual artistry. Previous winners of the award include David Bowie, Madonna, Beyoncé, Kanye West and Rihanna. The award was first given in 1984 but was renamed after Michael Jackson in 1991.
Following the resurfaced sexual assault allegations involving Jackson and children which made headlines following the Leaving Neverland documentary, MTV is reportedly considering removing Jackson’s name from the award and rebranding it.
A source told Page Six, “there’s a lot of heated discussion at the network about how to handle the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award this year, and it’s getting ugly. There’s talk about if they should change the name, or get rid of it altogether. There’s also talk about who would present it and who would accept it. It’s a mess. MTV potentially banning his name is the latest fallout. They haven’t decided yet, but they’ve been going back and forth on it. There are a lot of issues”.
The documentary was broadcast in March and led to an intense reaction from many; with some radio stations across the globe pulling the artist’s records from their playlists in response to the abuse allegations. Read more about this here.
The music community will have to wait until the Video Music Awards take place on the 26th of August in Newark, New Jersey to learn which decision MTV takes regarding the award.