Awards HQ Sept. 10: Creative Arts Emmys Preview and What to Expect; Remembering Michael K. Williams and More

A year after splitting the Creative Arts Emmys into a five-night, virtual event, the Television Academy is bringing the awards back to the people — well, some of them. This year’s three Creative Arts ceremonies will be held in a tent on the L.A. Live events deck in downtown Los Angeles, on Sept. 11 and 12, with a limited audience.

But despite the difficulty in organizing the events as the COVID -19 pandemic’s Delta variant causes a spike in cases, producer Bob Bain says he’s relieved to once again oversee these in-person shows.

“We’re hoping for something that — in terms of energy — feels a lot more like the prior shows that we used to do at the Microsoft Theatre than last year, when it was all virtual and Zooms that no one really wants to watch,” Bain says. “We are at least kind of back in the live-event business.”

“Kind of,” because just as with the Primetime Emmys on Sept. 19, the Creative Arts shows have been limited in the number of people — nominees only, and maximum four per group — who are allowed in the tent. That’s one of the reasons the show, normally split in two (with that exception of five virtual streams last year), has been expanded to three. The shows at 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday will focus more on scripted entries, while the 1 p.m. Sunday ceremony is centered mostly on unscripted programs.

“What that means as an audience person is that you’re not sitting there for the traditional four-hour Creative Arts Emmys,” Bain says. “It’s a much better pacing, and these shows will be anywhere from an hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes — which we believe is a much better experience for audience members, the nominees and the like.”

Audiences this year will be seated at tables, much like the setup at the Golden Globes or Critics Choice Awards, which Bain also produces. “That offers a lot of visuals and participant interaction and engagement that we don’t have in a proscenium-style presentation,” Bain says.

The tent will also have multiple stages, which will allow a quicker walk to the podium for winners. “Although that sounds minor, it can become pretty significant,” he says. “Because we have so many awards that we have to get through.”

The Television Academy expects around 500 people in the tent for each of the three Creative Arts shows. “It is a smaller audience than it’s been before, and it is a distanced audience,” Bain says.

Read more here.

2021 Creative Arts Emmys, Saturday, September 11 – 5 p.m. PT

Outstanding Cinematography For A Limited or Anthology Series Or Movie
Outstanding Cinematography For A Multi-Camera Series
Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour)
Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (One Hour)
Outstanding Contemporary Costumes
Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling
Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling For A Variety, Nonfiction, Or Reality Program
Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic)
Outstanding Contemporary Makeup For A Variety, Nonfiction, Or Reality Program (NonProsthetic)
Outstanding Costumes For Variety, Nonfiction, Or Reality Programming
Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes
Outstanding Innovation In Interactive Programming
Outstanding Interactive Program
Outstanding Main Title Design
Outstanding Motion Design
Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series
Outstanding Period And/Or Character Hairstyling
Outstanding Period Costumes
Outstanding Period Makeup And/Or Character Makeup (Non-Prosthetic)
Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming
Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour Or More)
Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Period Or Fantasy Program (One Hour Or
More)
Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Program (Half-Hour)
Outstanding Production Design For A Variety Special
Outstanding Production Design For A Variety, Reality, Or Competition Series
Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Limited or Anthology Series, Movie, Or Special
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Series or Special

2021 Creative Arts Emmys, Sunday, September 12 – 1 p.m. PT

Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking
Outstanding Animated Program
Outstanding Casting For A Reality Program
Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program
Outstanding Cinematography For A Reality Program
Outstanding Directing For A Documentary/Nonfiction Program
Outstanding Directing For A Reality Program
Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series
Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special
Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Competition Program
Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series Or Special
Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation
Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic
Score)
Outstanding Narrator
Outstanding Picture Editing For A Nonfiction Program
Outstanding Picture Editing For A Structured Reality Or Competition Program
Outstanding Picture Editing For An Unstructured Reality Program
Outstanding Short Form Animated Program
Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction Or Reality Series
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Nonfiction Or Reality Program (Single Or Multi-Camera)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Nonfiction Or Reality Program (Single Or Multi-Camera)
Outstanding Structured Reality Program
Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program
Outstanding Writing For A Nonfiction Program

2021 Creative Arts Emmys, Sunday, September 12 – 5 p.m. PT

Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
Outstanding Casting For A Comedy Series
Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
Outstanding Casting For A Limited or Anthology Series Or Movie
Outstanding Choreography For Scripted Programming
Outstanding Choreography For Variety Or Reality Programming
Outstanding Commercial
Outstanding Directing For A Variety Series
Outstanding Directing For A Variety Special
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Variety Series
Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Variety Special
Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited or Anthology Series, Movie, Or Special
(Original Dramatic Score)
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)
Outstanding Music Direction
Outstanding Music Supervision
Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics
Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series
Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie
Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Single Episode
Outstanding Stunt Coordination
Outstanding Stunt Performance
Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Series
Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Special
Outstanding Television Movie
Outstanding Writing For A Variety Special

If it feels like details about this year’s Emmy Awards are coming in very last minute, well, that’s because they are. The rise in COVID-19 cases around the country due to the delta variant (and stubborn Americans who refuse to do the right thing and get vaccinated) has kept everything fluid with this year’s production, including how to accommodate an in-person audience.

Normally, the Emmy producers would be able to preview the annual telecast by now. Not in 2021. Beyond host Cedric the Entertainer, details about this year’s slender Emmys (the Slimmys?) are still very elusive. As we’ve reported, all three Creative Arts Emmys and the main Emmys ceremony on CBS have been relocated to a high-end tent (like the one used in recent years for the Governors Balls) on the L.A. Live events deck, next to downtown Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater.

Originally there was going to be room for every nominee and a guest, but after consultation with health and safety advisers, the TV Academy decided to limit the number of attendees for the Sept. 19 telecast to around 600 and closer to 500 for each of the Creative Arts shows. That meant a max of four people per nominated production team — and a lot of hurt feelings.

“I do think it’s like pretty shitty to be nominated for an Emmy and not invited,” one producer told me. “I don’t know if this will happen again. It just feels like this huge moment in my career comes with a big asterisk on it.”

TV Academy president Maury McIntyre knows the situation isn’t ideal, especially as he hears from publicists and awards consultants struggling to figure out how to allocate those limited tickets.

“I’ve been here since 2013, and this is probably the most difficult year I’ve experienced,” McIntyre says. “Things change hourly, if not daily. We realized we couldn’t be at the capacity we wanted to be. … We’re disappointed we weren’t able to include them all. That was certainly not our intention going into this. It is just something that has come up with all these conversations with health and safety that we can’t accommodate that number within the tent.”

Vaccinations and proof of a negative COVID-19 test are now required for each attendee, but the window to get those test results is fairly narrow.

“The thing that keeps me up at night is probably the testing issue,” McIntyre says. “We will be providing resources to nominees for where they might get tested and where they might be able to get even a rapid test. We do want to make sure that we are giving all of our nominees and their guests or any attendees as many resources as possible so that they can get their stuff done. I completely acknowledge it’s a new frontier for all of us.” Read the full column here.

When the extinction-level event takes out (almost) everyone with a Y chromosome in “Y: The Last Man,” Kimberly Campbell Cunningham is the hardest one hit, according to Amber Tamblyn, who plays the character in the new FX on Hulu series.

Kimberly is a “very deeply conservative boy mom, whose entire identity is through the patriarchy and through the men that were in her lives,” Tamblyn tells Variety’s Danielle Turchiano on the Awards Circuit Podcast. She is the daughter of the President of the United States, who perishes in the pandemic, and her life revolves around her husband and sons, who also die, almost exactly at the same time. This leaves her with deep grief and a loss of her identity, Tamblyn notes.

“I don’t think [she] has the tools or the emotional capacity to know how to deal with such trauma. It breeds in her an empathetic monster that you will come to see over the course of the season, which is going to be really conflicting, I think, for viewers,” she explains. Listen below!

Based on a 60-issue science fiction comic book series and developed for television by Eliza Clark, “Y: The Last Man” is set after that mysterious event, throwing the world into chaos. On the show, which premieres Sept. 13, Congresswoman Jennifer Brown (Diane Lane) rises to become the president — but it turns out her son survived the event. Widespread conspiracy theories abound, and Jennifer’s political rivals circle, led by Tamblyn’s character. Kimberly senses that Jennifer is hiding something and tries to uncover the truth in order to bring her down.

At times Tamblyn felt internally conflicted in portraying the character. “I do not identify with, I would say, 99.9% of what conservative women and their values are,” she admits.

Also on this episode of the Awards Circuit Podcast, we pay tribute to late actor Michael K. Williams, with a podcast interview he gave in 2017. And on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast roundtable, we look ahead at this weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys, including the guest performer and TV movie categories.

Variety’s Emmy edition of the “Awards Circuit” podcast is hosted by Michael Schneider, Jazz Tangcay and Danielle Turchiano and is your one-stop listen for lively conversations about the best in television. Each week during Emmy season, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top TV talent and creatives; discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines; and much, much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post every Thursday.

Live events producers Joe Lewis and R.A. Clark have formed Lewis & Clark, a new firm aiming to pursue projects across music, entertainment, sports and culture. The firm’s first project will be the 2022 MusicCares Person of the Year Gala honoring Joni Mitchell.

Lewis is the founder of the Joe Lewis Company, and R.A. Clark founded and is executive producer of Lion’s Heart Entertainment, both of which will also continue as separate entities.

Combined, the two have worked on live music and award shows, opening ceremonies, extravaganzas, and sports events including the Academy Awards Pre-Show, the Grammys, the Academy of Country Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, the CMT Awards; and events around the NFL’s Super Bowl, Draft, Kick-Off and Pro Bowl, and the NBA All-Star Game.

“RAC and I have a successful track record of working alongside each other on some of Hollywood’s biggest events,” said Lewis, whose clients include the Academy Awards, the Grammys, Disney, Red Bull, Netflix, BET, HBO, the NFL, and the NBA. “Our alliance is the perfect marriage on several levels – from formats, live TV, to events and brand experiences joining forces with him, allows us to deliver an unparalleled live event broadcast experience for our clients.”

Clark, who launched “Puttin’ on the Hits” in 1984, has since worked on Grammy specials on the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Prince, the Bee Gees, and Motown, as well as multiple red carpet events and as been EP on the Academy of Country Music Awards since 1999.

“After working with Joe on the Academy Awards red carpet, I knew that if we came together, our clients would get the best of both worlds… live/experiential event experience with live music event broadcast expertise,” he said.

Alex Borstein, Yvette Nicole Brown, Justin Hartley, Padma Lakshmi, Mj Rodriguez and Brittany Snow have been named the 2021 honorees for the Creative Coalition’s 7th annual Television Humanitarian Awards.

The event, to be held in-person on Saturday, Sept. 18 at the private residence of Academy Award-nominated producer Lawrence Bender, celebrates the charitable work of honorees and their support of various nonprofit organizations and causes. Variety’s Marc Malkin will host the event.

Launched by the Creative Coalition in 2015, the Television Humanitarian Awards shines a spotlight on TV industry talent who use the power of their celebrity for social good. It also serves as an opportunity to tout the work of the Creative Coalition, which serves as an advocacy org for the arts.

Read more here.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has elected German journalist Helen Hoehne as its new president, the latest step in the org’s move to reform following controversies surrounding its operations. Hoehne, who previously served as vice president, will lead the HFPA’s recently announced expanded Board of Directors.

HFPA members voted for Hoehne as its new president directly from the new Board membership, revealed last week. The group of 12 members — five of whom have never served on the board — will soon be joined by three more outside non-members still to come, for a total of 15. Hoehne replaces Ali Sar, who had served as president of the HFPA since 2020, following the death of previous president Lorenzo Soria.

Hoehne is a native of Hamburg, has been a member of the HFPA since 2004. She served on the board of directors from 2012 to 2019 and was elected as VP in September 2020. Hoehne has written for various publications in Germany, including serving as U.S. Correspondent for TV Movie magazine, one of Germany’s largest biweekly television and movie magazines through the Bauer Media Group. She is also a regular contributor for German television channels RTL and ProSieben.

In May, the 85-member HFPA announced a timeline that would overhaul the organization, and in July, the HFPA approved the new set of bylaws that had been proposed to reform the organization, recruit more diverse and inclusive members and address the ethics and accountability issues that have long swirled around the organization.

Read more here.

After 20 years and 32 seasons, CBS’ “The Amazing Race” remains one of the gold standards of reality competition TV, having won 10 Emmys in that series category since its inception, more than any other show. Production on “The Amazing Race” currently remains on hiatus, unfortunately, as the world continues to contend with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But producers are eager to get the show, which halted mid-race in February 2020 — back up and running when it’s safe. And they have every intention of resuming the show’s 33rd season after pausing it midstream.

“The Amazing Race” originally premiered on Sept. 5, 2001 — six days before another major tragedy, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. As the world changed, so did travel, and that altered the way production of future seasons had to be handled — just as, once again, the impact of the pandemic will likely have a lasting impact on “Race” moving forward. (For its part, CBS is still optimistic about the show’s return and has previously announced that Season 33 will air during the 2021-2022 television season.)

As host Phil Keoghan practices his raised eyebrow in the hopes that they’ll be back on the road soon, “The Amazing Race” executive producers and creators Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster are taking a moment this weekend to celebrate two decades of “The Amazing Race,” and reflect on how they turned a logistically challenging idea into a hit TV series with all those awards and plenty of critical acclaim. Specifically, in honor of its 20th anniversary, we asked Doganieri to come up with a list of the 20 most difficult or exciting producing moments, focusing on challenges, she and van Munster have experienced with “The Amazing Race.” She came back with a broad list reaching back to the very beginning. Click here to see her picks, with commentary.

The Television Critics Association press tour continues, and next up it was Fox’s turn. Their goodies, promoting both the Fox fall schedule and the Tubi AVOD service, included treats and a big pack of Boketto cold brew. Panels included new dramas “The Big Leap” and “Our Kind of People,” as well as new competition singing show “Alter Ego.”

Meanwhile, to promote its peak day at TCA, Paramount Plus sent snacks tied to “Guilty Party,” “Star Trek: Prodigy,” “The Game,” “Mayor of Kingstown,” “The Harper House” and more.

“The Drew Barrymore Show” returns for Season 2 on Monday, Sept. 13 with an audience also returns in studio at the Paramount Lot in Los Angeles. Guests include “The Morning Show” star Jennifer Aniston. Plus, “Let’s Make A Deal” host Wayne Brady stops by putting Drew and Jennifer’s game skills to the test as they play to raise funds for Wagmor Pets Dog Rescue.

Billie Eilish‘s “Happier than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles” premiered on Friday, September 3, on Disney Plus. The film features a performance of every song on Eilish’s new album’s sequential order from the stage of the Hollywood Bowl. Directed by Robert Rodriguez and by Oscar-winner Patrick Osborne, the special includes animated elements and also features Finneas, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, and Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, with Orchestra Arrangements by David Campbell.

Here’s what we know: “Emily in Paris” is addictive. It comes from Darren Star, who knows a thing or two about creating deliciously campy comedy set in glamorous locations, see: “Sex and the City,” “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Melrose Place.” The show looks fantastic. And star Lily Collins is, indeed, a delight.

Did “Emily in Paris” deserve a slot among this year’s Emmy comedy series nominees? Not if it meant beating out worthy contenders such as “Mythic Quest,” “Girls5eva” or “Superstore.” Still, it clearly resonated in ways that I, and most of my fellow awards pundits, had failed to realize in making our initial predictions. (I did correctly guess the love for “Cobra Kai,” so give me some credit!)

Still, it turns out that for many voters, “Emily in Paris” was their “Cobra Kai”: The right show at the right time, checking all the boxes. Some critics that I respect, such as New York Magazine/ Vulture’s Jen Chaney, made it clear that “Emily in Paris” resonated because of its fantasy qualities: “‘Emily in Paris’ is a treat, a beguiling work of Netflix escapism, and also, let’s face it, the closest you will likely get to Paris in the next six months,” she wrote.

And then there’s Variety’s very own Daniel D’Addario, who in his review said the “series is a delight that poses the question of what it really means to grow up, against a truly inviting backdrop.” That’s right, the call was coming from inside my own house.

Read the full column here.

Jazz Tangcay writes:

Jennifer Hudson has won a Daytime Emmy for her role as an executive producer in Baobab Studios’ “Baba Yaga,” putting her one award short of achieving EGOT status.

VR animated film “Baba Yaga,” made for the Oculus Quest, won in the interactive media for a daytime program category, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday. Hudson starred alongside Glenn Close, Kate Winslet and Daisy Ridley, who also voiced characters. But it was Hudson’s role as executive producer that garnered her the Daytime Emmy Award.

Hudson already has an Oscar, winning for supporting actress in 2007 for her role in “Dreamgirls.” She also has two Grammy awards including Best R&B Album and Best Musical Theater Album. All she needs is the Tony Award to achieve the EGOT. And she came close in 2016, but was shockingly snubbed when the Broadway revival of “The Color Purple” landed four nominations with Hudson missing out.

Should Hudson win a Tony award, she would join the elite group of artists who have achieved the status, including John Legend, Marvin Hamlisch and Robert Lopez. Composer Alan Menken was the last artist to earn EGOT status in 2020, also with a Daytime Emmy win, when he won for outstanding original song in a children’s, young adult, or animated program for “Waiting in the Wings” from Disney’s “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.”

Read more here.

Set in a mildly apocalyptic near-future, Adult Swim’s “Teenage Euthanasia” centers around the Fantasy Family and their inland Florida funeral home, Tender Endings. The cast of characters include recently undead Trophy Fantasy (voiced by Maria Bamford); her teenage daughter, Euthanasia “Annie” Fantasy (voiced by Jo Firestone); Annie’s Oedipus-complex-stricken Uncle Pete (voiced by Tim Robinson); and Annie’s “old country” immigrant grandmother Baba (voiced by Bebe Neuwirth).

Creators Alissa Nutting (“Made for Love”) and Alyson Levy (“The Shivering Truth”) filled out our “Watch My Show!” survey to share why you should check out “Teenage Euthanasia.”

1. Sum up your show’s pitch in one sentence.
An abandoned teenager resurrects her dead mother and hopes to turn her into a proper parent.

2. What’s an alternate title for your show?
“Generational Trauma (A Comedy)”

3. What do we need to know before tuning in?
15 years ago, teen mom Trophy Fantasy abandoned her baby named Euthanasia (Annie for short). So Annie’s Uncle Pete and grandmother Baba raised her up to this point. Now Trophy’s back at Tender Endings, the family’s funeal home, as a resurrected corpse with magical crotch beetles. Also, the show is set in a near-future mid-apocalyptic version of Florida.

4. Give us an equation for your show. (Blank plus blank minus blank times blank, etc.)
If “Bob’s Burgers” went to the prom with “Gilmore Girls” as just friends, but ended up getting wasted and losing its virginity to “Spring Breakers,” while secret crush “Over the Garden Wall” bought some adderall off of “Rick and Morty” who had Fred Flinstone do their algebra homework.

5. What’s the best thing someone said about your show?
That it’s funny. Even though women created it. Or when Tim Robinson laughs to himself while reading through the script.

6. If you could work on any other film or series in TV, what would it be?
Alissa: “My Strange Addiction.” Alyson would prefer to spend this time grooming her mini-donkey Lil’ Bitey if that is allowed.

7. Finish this sentence: “If you like _______, you’ll love our film.”
If you like trying not to think about the horror of our world for 22.5 minutes at a time, you’ll love our show. Or if you like alligators.

The 74th annual Writers Guild Awards will take place on Sunday, March 20, 2022 — right in the middle of final Oscar voting. The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), which jointly honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, news, radio/audio and promotional categories with annual awards, announced the 2021-2022 timeline (including eligibility periods) for next year’s awards on Tuesday.

The March 20 date will make the WGA Awards the last of the major guild ceremonies during this upcoming film awards season. The PGA Awards take place at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel on Feb. 26; the 28th annual SAG Awards will air from the Shrine Exposition Center on Feb. 27; and DGA Awards will be held on March 12.

This also places the WGA Awards just one week before the 94th Oscars, which are scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 27, 2022. This past year, the WGA Awards took place on Sunday, March 21, more than a month before the Oscars.

See the full calendar here.

The Television Academy’s 14th Television Academy Honors were celebrated via an hour-long special, hosted by Issa Rae, that posted on the org’s website on Sept. 3.

This year’s honorees included “I May Destroy You,” “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” “For Life,” “I Am Greta,” “Little America,” “The Social Dilemma” and “Welcome to Chechnya.”

The Television Academy Honors are meant to single out “programs across numerous platforms and genres that elevate complex issues facing society,” the org said, Topics addressed in this year’s crop of programs include issues of racism, criminal justice, social justice, sexual assault, LGBTQ+ persecution, immigration and climate change.

Click above or here to watch.

Sunday is quite a busy night for the awards circuit. Besides the third and final Creative Arts Emmys, it’s also this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. Here’s a helpful roundup of what you need to know, via MTV:What time is the show and on what channels?

• The 2021 MTV “VMAs” will air live from the Barclays Center on Sunday, September 12, at 8PM ET/PT.
• The show will simulcast across CMT, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land, VH1 and The CW Network, making the show available to an expanded broadcast audience for the second consecutive year.

Who is hosting?

• The 2021 MTV “VMAs” will be hosted by rapper and singer Doja Cat.

Who is nominated?

• MTV announced nominees for the 2021 MTV “VMAs”. You can find the full list HERE. Highlights include:

o   Justin Bieber (7), Megan Thee Stallion (6), Billie Eilish (5), BTS (5), Doja Cat (5), Drake (5), Lil Nas X (5), Olivia Rodrigo (5) and Giveon (5) lead the MTV “VMAs” nominations.

o   Nominees for the biggest award of the night, “Video of the Year” are Megan Thee Stallion & Cardi B’s “WAP,” Drake and DJ Khaled’s “Popstar,” Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More,” Lil Nas X’s “Montero”, Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” and The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears”.

o   Nominees for “Artist of the Year” are Ariana Grande, Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Megan Thee Stallion, Olivia Rodrigo, and Taylor Swift.

Who is being honored?

• This year, MTV is bringing the uber prestigious Global Icon Award from the Europe Music Awards (EMAs) to the VMAs for the first time. The iconic rock band, Foo Fighters will receive the award which celebrates an artist or band whose unparalleled career and continued impact & influence has maintained a unique level of global success in music and beyond.

Who is performing?

• MTV previously announced performances from Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Lil Nas X, Machine Gun Kelly, Kacey Musgraves, Chlöe, and Twenty One Pilots.
  • Camila Cabello will perform “Don’t Go Yet”.
  • Olivia Rodrigo will make her “VMAs” debut with a performance of “good 4 u”.
  • Shawn Mendes will perform his latest single “Summer Of Love”.
  • Chlöe will make her solo debut with a performance of her first single, “Have Mercy”.
  • Kacey Musgraves will make her “VMAs” debut with a performance of her brand new song “Star-Crossed”.