In the wake of the Nicki-Miley smackdown, we look back at the wildest dust-ups from years past
Sitting through award shows often feels like a sad marathon; at least
when running 26 miles, you can brag on Facebook. Every so often, though,
someone at MTV's Video Music Awards pierces through
the artifice of thank-you speeches and politicking to show what happens
when people stop being polite and start being real. And that, friends,
is when things finally start getting interesting!
This weekend, at the VMAs in Los Angeles, Nicki Minaj squashed one
"beef" with Taylor Swift and, not long after, took another to a new
level, coming after host Miley Cyrus with the quickness and
then tweeting "Lmfaoooooooooo." Minaj isn't the first to use the
award-show podium as a bully pulpit. To see where she ranks, here's our
list of the 10 craziest beefs in VMA history.
Kurt Cobain vs. Axl Rose (1992)
Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty; KMazur/WireImage/Getty
Courtney Love is many things — a lightning rod, for instance — but
predictable is not one of them. Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic
confirmed the long-rumored Kurt-Axl almost-fight in 2008, writing for Seattle Weekly.
As he tells it, Axl Rose walked past Courtney, Kurt and their baby
backstage when she screamed, "Axl! Axl! You're the godfather!" (Note: He
wasn't.) The Guns N' Roses lead singer told Kurt, "Keep your woman in
line," before walking off, which made Kurt and Courtney laugh as they
repeated the line to themselves. (Novoselic writes, "He should have
walked over and asked to kiss the baby or something!") Then Novoselic
had a run-in with GN'R's Duff McKagan, whom he'd never met, but seemed
to have ill feelings toward concerning this whole "godfather" business.
When Nirvana went to perform "Lithium," Dave Grohl finished the set by
screaming, "Axl! Axl! Where's Axl? Hi, Axl!"
Kurt Cobain vs. Eddie Vedder (1992)
Frank Micelotta/Getty; Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty
For every feud that starts or continues at the VMAs, there are also
those that end there. And, in that vein, perhaps no ending is more
beautiful than that of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder. In 2011, a clip
came out as part of Pearl Jam's Twenty documentary, where Eddie
Vedder and Kurt Cobain smiled and slow-danced with one another below
the stage as Eric Clapton performed "Tears in Heaven" at the VMAs. (Word
of the incident first emerged in 2006 Rolling Stone interview with Vedder.) They spin and dip as Courtney Love jumps giddily nearby. Cameron Crowe, the director of the documentary, called the video
"the Holy Grail," adding, "It's a beautiful moment. We didn't know the
footage could be found; we found it." There are also interview snippets
of Kurt calling Eddie a "beautiful person" and "a friend," so it's clear
that this supposed beef was more played out in headlines than anywhere
else.
Kevork Djansezian/AP
This started off as normal as "Milton Berle walked out on RuPaul's
arm" can but quickly turned when Ru snapped at Uncle Miltie, calling him
a "queen" and accusing the old man of going from dresses to diapers.
Milton Berle, who made his name on Texaco Star Theatre in the 1940s,
closed out the segment by groping RuPaul's breasts and saying, "Shut up!
Let him, her read [the winner's name]. She-he. Go ahead." He smiled
broadly, attempting to grab the elbow of his co-presenter, though RuPaul
swiped it away. A total low point.
Fiona Apple vs. MTV (1997)
Bob Berg/Getty; Jamie McCarthy/WireImage/Getty
Well, this was different. Citing inspiration from Maya Angelou, Fiona Apple accepted her Moonman for Best New Artist by saying, "I'm going to use this opportunity the way that I want to use it." She then said, "This world is bullshit. You shouldn't . . . model your life about what we're wearing and what we're doing and what we're saying and everything. Go with yourself. Go with yourself." Hearing Fiona speak was like realizing the call was coming from inside the house; here was someone who was cutting through the manufactured cool the network had built itself on. In those 45 seconds, she basically invented Tumblr. MTV, in response, repackaged her words for Saturday afternoons, selling ads against countdown shows based around the craziest VMA moments.
Eminem vs. Moby and Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog (2002)
By 2002, Eminem had targeted everyone from Marilyn Manson to
Christina Aguilera without real cause. So it's not surprising he went
after Moby — crunchy, vegan Moby — who gave an interview
calling Enimem "very clever, but he's also a misogynist, a homophobe, a
racist, and an anti-Semite." So! At the VMAs, Eminem shoved his middle
finger in Moby's face and called him a "pussy." The DJ later got
roasted by Triumph, a puppet dog. When Triumph spun over to Em, he threw
the "dog's" notes in the air and pushed the dog — once again, a puppet
— aside. And that's before Eminem got onstage, looked directly at Moby,
and said, "I will hit a man with glasses." (Within months, Moby would be
beaten up
outside Boston's Paradise Rock Club by a bunch of angry Eminem fans.)
Triumph gave a "press conference" immediately following the VMAs,
saying, "Everyone, please. Let's all try to be easy on Eminem. At the
end of the day, he's just another white guy trying to make an honest
living . . . stealing black people's music."
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