Transcription
MTV is the cable network that gave us Carson Daly, kicked off the reality TV craze with The Real World, and introduced us to the South Jersey Shore. But, the once trendsetting channel where music videos lived before YouTube has also been the subject of a surprising number of controversies and scandals over the years. So, today we're looking back at some of the biggest controversies in MTV's history. But, before we get started, make sure you subscribe to the Weird History channel. After that, head on down to the comments and let us know what other televised scandals you want to hear about next.
Now, video may have killed the radio star, but these stunts didn't help either. One MTV moment that's forever etched into the minds of Swifties everywhere was Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards or VMAs. Swift, 19 years old at the time, was accepting her Moon Person statuette for the You Belong With Me video after being selected as the Best Female Artist of the Year. Among Swift's fellow nominees was Beyoncé for her song Single Ladies, Put a Ring on It. Though he had yet to display any of the bizarre behavior and incendiary comments for which he has since become notorious, Kanye was already a notable and divisive figure in popular music. West not only felt that his friend Beyoncé had been snubbed, but took it upon himself to race to the stage, wrestle control of the microphone from Swift, and declare, "Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time." He repeated this last part for emphasis. "One of the best videos of all time." West was immediately asked to leave the VMAs while Swift and Beyoncé comforted one another backstage. West apologized later that evening in a blog post. Meanwhile, Swift returned to the stage to perform You Belong With Me, and Beyoncé won a VMA for Video of the Year that very same night for Single Ladies. So, Kanye was right. The incident also triggered years of animosity between Swift and West, eventually entangling his future family, the Kardashians, as well. West even proclaimed in his 2016 song Famous that he had made Swift famous, seemingly forgetting he had interrupted her acceptance speech for Best Female Artist of the Year. Kind of feels like she was already famous.
MTV was behind another landmark tabloid moment from the naughty aughties, though it aired on CBS rather than the cable network. MTV produced the Super Bowl 38 halftime show, which aired in February of 2004 and featured appearances from local marching bands alongside Kid Rock, Jessica Simpson, Nelly, Diddy, and others. During the show's closing number, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performed a duet of Timberlake's hit Rock Your Body. After singing the phrase, "I'm going to have you naked by the end of this song," Timberlake ripped off a part of Jackson's costume, very briefly revealing her right breast to the camera. By most estimates, Jackson's nipple was only visible for around 9/16 of a second before CBS cut away to a commercial. Nonetheless, it was a wardrobe malfunction heard round the world, earning the incident the nickname Nipplegate. Richard Nixon's legacy is strange. CBS was issued a record $550,000 in fines, though network executives claimed total ignorance about what the duo had planned. Jackson later confirmed the stunt was solidified after final rehearsals, but their plan had not actually involved any nudity. Timberlake was just supposed to pull away Jackson's bustier, revealing an undergarment beneath. But, even though the flash was apparently Timberlake's mistake, Jackson suffered the immediate blowback. She was barred from further appearances on MTV, CBS, and even that year's Grammys broadcast. One fascinating ripple effect of the infamous wardrobe malfunction was a surge of interest in recording live TV for later viewing, which was still a nascent home theater technology in 2004. The early DVR system TiVo reportedly sold 35,000 units in the days after Nipplegate as everyone realized they could catch any future wardrobe malfunctions for posterity.
In the year 2000, MTV was developing a variation on talent shows, appropriately titled Dude, This Sucks. A panel of judges would watch various groups of contestants perform stunts and feats that showcased their offbeat skills and abilities, with the winners earning a cash prize. A group called The Shower Rangers were one of the teams performing on what was to be the show's pilot episode, but ultimately became its only episode. Their talent consisted of wearing scouting-style uniforms, exposing their backsides to the audience, and then defecating on stage. So, don't hire them for any birthday parties. Nobody else felt that this was a particularly impressive talent either, especially considering the Rangers had taken laxatives just before showtime, which is essentially the equivalent of performance-enhancing drugs. The Dude, This Sucks pilot was being recorded offsite during an MTV festival event in the mountain town of Big Bear, California, 5 hours north of Los Angeles. MTV's then president of programming, Brian Graden, later suggested that this location shoot, away from MTV's executive team and normal studio setting, is what allowed the production to go so far off the rails. Immediately following the incident, Graden vowed that the footage would never be publicly released, though there are bootlegs to be found on YouTube today, which we sincerely recommend you do not watch. But, you probably already have it open in another tab. 13-year-olds Monique Garcia and Kelly Slote, middle schoolers from the Big Bear community, were unfortunately in the audience for the Shower Rangers performance. The girls hired prominent attorney Gloria Allred to sue MTV for infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and battery, though the specific results of the lawsuit were never made public.
MTV's remake of the UK teen soap opera Skins was already a lightning rod for controversy before it even had a chance to make it to television. The original Skins was a British hit after debuting on E4 in 2007, and its frank look at coming-of-age issues like drug use and sex made it seem like the perfect fit for the US network. But, American viewers proved a bit more sensitive than their European counterparts. The Parents Television Council condemned the US version of Skins, calling it "the most dangerous television show for children that we have ever the producers for child pornography. The MTV remake aired for just one season in 2011 before being abruptly canceled. The network said the issue was not the Parents TV Council, but their own reliable lineup of advertisers, who were hesitant to associate their brand with such controversial content. The British Skins, on the other hand, aired for seven seasons before wrapping up in 2013. Today, the more risque and intense teen drama Euphoria is one of the most critically acclaimed shows on television. The times, they are a-changin'.
MTV had a massively successful run with Pimp My Ride, a reality TV series in which rapper Xzibit and his crack team of auto customization and restoration experts treat young car owners from Southern California to flashy and stylish upgrades. The show became such a part of the zeitgeist that it's still referenced in pop culture and internet memes to this day. But, the reality of the show was much different from what it looked like on camera. In 2015, three former Pimp My Ride participants, Jake Glazier, Seth Martino, and Justin Derringer, went public in Huffington Post with allegations that the show's tricked-out cars, with their creatively luxurious perks and amenities, were largely faked for the cameras. According to the boys, additions like TV screens or gold wing doors were typically nonfunctional and never designed to actually be included with the cars. Sometimes, the upgrades weren't even street legal. For example, a pop-up champagne-serving device had to be removed before the car could be driven around due to open container laws. The trio also alleged that not enough mechanical work was actually done on the cars to make them drivable even after the upgrades were in place. Martino also alleged in the article that he was harassed and bullied by the Pimp My Ride crew, who filled his car with candy wrappers as a way of mocking his weight. Larry Hochberg, a co-executive producer of the show, denied these allegations and disputed most of the trio's claims. He suggested that in many cases, the cars had been poorly maintained by their owners, and there was no time to give them a full mechanical overhaul. The show, he claims, was about pimping the rides, not fixing them. And to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, when it comes to pimping, we know it when we see it.
In 1993, MTV's popular animated comedy series Beavis and Butt-Head became a lightning rod for controversy due to its nihilistic and self-destructive depiction of suburban teens. The animated duo was even blamed for two separate incidents in which young people started fires in their homes, both of which occurred in the state of Ohio. In August, Chief Stan Crossley of the Sidney Fire Department reported that three girls started a fire in their bedroom by igniting the spray from an aerosol can after watching the animated duo. Then in October, Dayton mother Darcy Burke claimed that her 5-year-old son Austin had set a bed on fire, tragically killing 2-year-old Jessica Matthews, after watching the same show. Despite being only partially accurate, these stories were widely accepted as factual evidence that Beavis and Butt-Head was harmful to children. A spokesperson for MTV pledged to re-examine Beavis and Butt-Head with child safety concerns in mind. And an opening disclaimer was also added to the beginning of each episode reading in part, "Beavis and Butt-Head are not role models. They're not even human. They're cartoons. Don't try this at home." So, if you've ever wondered why that disclaimer was there, this is the reason. Nonetheless, years later, at least one of these stories have come under new scrutiny. In 2008, an now 20-year-old Austin Messner revealed that he had never seen an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head before setting the fire that took the life of Jessica Matthews. In fact, he suggests that his family never even had cable TV and that his drug-addicted mother and her lack of supervision were to blame.
Canadian stand-up comic and prankster Tom Green moved to the US and brought his surreal and unpredictable take on the chat series to the network. Green's chaos-fueled talk show helped pave the way for many other absurdist takes on the genre. But one of his early breakout hits was something more familiar to MTV audiences, a music video. Green's clip, "Lonely Swedish The Bum Bum Song", featured him dressed in an old-time naval uniform while, you guessed it, rubbing his bum bum against various objects in public. Green debuted the video on his own show, but urged fans to call in to the popular MTV video countdown, Total Request Live, or TRL, and demand that they play it on their show as well. TRL, as a matter of tradition, played the top 10 most requested videos every day, Monday through Thursday. And within days of its TV debut, "Lonely Swedish" was the number one most requested clip. However, it only aired once, after which Green declared that the song was retired and ineligible for any further countdowns. At the time, he explained that he did this as a favor to boost the boy band 98°. In 1999, this was a very funny joke. But years later, Green revealed that MTV asked him to retire the song because the network had pre-recorded several TRL episodes while host Carson Daly was on the road, and they didn't want to reshoot them all without Daly to accommodate the bum bum song's sudden astronomical rise. Green said he'd agree at the time for fear of losing his job, but later came to regret caving and abruptly cutting off the momentum behind his most popular single. In other words, Green could have won a VMA for best video. Kanye might have even let him finish his speech.
So, what do you think? What's your favorite MTV moment? Let us know in the comments below, and while you're at it, check out some of these other videos from Our Weird History.