Kanye West Will Receive The 2015 Video Vanguard MTV VMA
Taylor Swift’s revenge moment has arrived! MTV announced today that Kanye West will receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at this year’s Video Music Awards. Wikipedia notes that Video Vanguard is a lifetime achievement award “is given to musicians who have made a profound effect on the MTV culture, honoring an artist’s body of work.” The honor dates back to MTV’s first VMAs ceremony in 1984, when David Bowie, the Beatles, and Richard Lester each took home trophies. Madonna, Peter Gabriel, Janet Jackson, and Beastie Boys have also been honored over the years. MTV no longer bestows the Video Vanguard every year — between 2003 and 2011, only one trophy was handed out, to director Hype Williams in 2006 — but they’ve been reviving it in recent years. The past three winners were Britney Spears in 2011, Justin Timberlake in 2013, and Beyoncé in 2014. See MTV’s announcement tweet and a 30-second video clip below.
.@KanyeWest will receive the Video Vanguard Award at the 2015 #VMAs this Sunday at 9/8c!
https://t.co/Th9yu9QDHR
— MTV (@MTV) August 25, 2015
The VMAs air this Sunday, 8/27 at 9PM EDT, and we’ll finally see if Swift’s friendship with Kanye has been a Machiavellian payback plot all along.