2007 MTV Video Music Awards

On August 7, 2007, the nominees were announced live on TRL with a special performance by Kanye West. The week before the ceremony, the network aired VMA Week on TRL, along with VMA-related programming, including performances from top artists.

The VMAs aired live that evening at 9:00 p.m. ET on MTV. MTV originally announced that the show would never be re-aired in its entirety, but program listings eventually showed that that was not the case. Perhaps as a concession that TV viewing audiences for the VMAs were decreasing year over year, the 2007 VMAs were produced on a smaller budget and in front of a smaller crowd. Unlike in past years where the show was shown on MTV in 16:9 HDTV letterboxed format, this year the ceremony was aired in 4:3 on the main channel. However, it was still produced in high definition, and was scheduled to air in full on MHD (the current MTV Live), Viacom's high definition channel, on September 22.[1] At the last moment, a 'best of' 90 minute clip show was substituted due to the various issues with the ceremony.[2]

The venue at the Palms was criticized for its small stage. Only four performances took place on the main stage, which consisted of a small layered stage that led off to a number of "island" stages that served as guests' tables. Other performances occurred in other locations in the Palms, including guest suites. Kanye West was especially critical of this setup, claiming that he would "never return to MTV" after he was slotted to perform in the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa instead of the main stage.[3]

Unlike previous editions of the MTV Video Music Awards, the 2007 awards featured performances in different suites, each with its own host band and guests performing. The Main Show performances occurred at the same location where the awards were being televised.

Amy Winehouse's record label canceled her performance for the show following Lily Allen's withdrawal from the event due to issues obtaining a visa. The two were rumored to perform a duet.[4] The French electronic group Justice was going to perform at the show with Mark Ronson during one of his VMA spots with an additional special guest.[5] The group had to drop out due to their flight's late arrival in Las Vegas.[6]

• Sarah Silverman – performed a short comic monologue
• Alicia Keys – introduced Mark Ronson, the Fantasy Suites, and Nicole Scherzinger and Eve
• Nicole Scherzinger and Eve – presented Monster Single of the Year
• Bill Hader and Seth Rogen – appeared in vignettes about voting procedures for Best New Artist
• Robin Thicke and Jennifer Hudson – presented Quadruple Threat of the Year
• 50 Cent and Kanye West – presented Most Earthshattering Collaboration
• Rosario Dawson – promoted the upcoming VMA Viewer's Choice remix broadcast and introduced Chris Brown
• Audrina Patridge, Whitney Port, and Lauren Conrad – presented Male Artist of the Year
• Shia LaBeouf – presented Female Artist of the Year
• Pamela Anderson – introduced Kanye West and T-Pain
• Megan Fox – introduced Timbaland
• Kevin Connolly and Adrian Grenier – presented Best Group
• Nelly – introduced Alicia Keys
• Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner – presented Best New Artist
• Caitlin Upton – promoted the upcoming VMA Viewer's Choice remix broadcast
• Mary J. Blige – introduced Dr. Dre
• Dr. Dre – presented Video of the Year
• Diddy, Yung Joc, and Jermaine Paul – introduced the closing performance

Winners are in bold text.

Flowers for Dorian won the MTV2 On The Rise contest. The prize for winning was getting flown to New York City to film 5 live videos in front of a green screen. The 5 videos were on Comcast's On Demand and one of the videos premiered at the VMAs. Flowers for Dorian's video for the song Love Remains premiered at the VMAs.

Britney Spears served as the opening act for the show, performing her new single "Gimme More". She appeared in a black, jewel encrusted bikini and black boots. She performed the opening lines of "Trouble" before segueing into "Gimme More". The performance was universally panned by critics. Jeff Leeds of The New York Times said that "no one was prepared for Sunday night's fiasco, in which a listless Ms. Spears teetered through her dance steps and mouthed only occasional words in a wan attempt to lip-synch her new single".[7] Vinay Menon of the Toronto Star commented Spears "looked hopelessly dazed. She was wearing the expression of somebody who had been deposited at the Palms Casino Resort by a tornado, one that promptly twisted away, taking her clothing and sense of purpose. ... [She was] lumbering, in slow motion, as if somebody had poured cement into her streetwalker boots".[8] David Willis of BBC stated her performance would "go down in the history books as being one of the worst to grace the MTV Awards".[9]

Immediately following Spears' performance, comedian Sarah Silverman presented a monologue that included numerous derogatory jokes about Spears, her career, and her children. Silverman joked that Spears, "at 25, had already accomplished in her life everything she ever will," and called her sons "most adorable mistakes you will ever see." Silverman's monologue received criticism for its harshness towards Spears and her children; Silverman responded to backlash by saying "it never occurred to me that would be deemed hurtful or over the line."[10] Silverman's monologue garnered renewed criticism in 2021, following the release of the documentary Framing Britney Spears; Silverman expressed regret for her monologue, saying that MTV had hired her to perform a "mini-roast" of Spears, and that Silverman had not seen Spears' performance before going on stage.[11]

Wikinews has related news:

• Altercation erupts between rock musicians at MTV Music Video Awards

Kid Rock and Tommy Lee were involved in an altercation at the Video Music Awards during the come-back performance of Alicia Keys. A source reported that Tommy Lee was sitting with magician Criss Angel when the two went to visit Diddy, who was sitting close to Kid Rock. Shortly after the two went over to see Diddy, "all hell broke loose", that source told Access Hollywood. It is reported that Kid Rock sucker-punched Tommy Lee in his back. The two, both ex-husbands of Pamela Anderson were broken up, and both were escorted from the resort. Angel was removed a short time later. The cause of the fight is unknown.[12]

An eyewitness reported to TMZ that "Tommy got it pretty bad."[13] The incident was confirmed by Palms Hotel and Casino public relations representative Larry Fink. MTV Host Sway Calloway said "Tommy Lee was sitting by P-Diddy and Kid Rock just got off stage and from what I saw he walked up to Lee and just decked him."

On-air reactions

• Presenter Jamie Foxx said "Let's stop all of this white-on-white crime."
• Diddy made a remark that "It's not just the hip-hop artists that sometimes have a problem."

Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina Teen USA 2007 – famous for her incoherent response to why she thought 1/5 of Americans can't locate the US on a world map, performed a parody of her response when she was presenting.

Shia LaBeouf revealed the name of the fourth Indiana Jones film: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was confirmed by the official site.

• Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2007
• 2007 MTV Europe Music Awards
• 2007 MTV Video Music Brasil

• 2007 MTV Video Music Awards website