The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards will be held on August 30, 2020 in New York City. Keke Palmer is set to host. Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande are the most nominated acts with nine each. Nominees for Push Best New Artist were revealed on July 23, 2020, and other categories were announced on July 30. Fan voting also began on July 30 and ended on August 23. Nominees for Song of Summer, Best Group and Everyday Heroes: Frontline Medical Workers were additionally released on August 24.
Ceremony information
The awards were originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center for the first time since 2013. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was expected to be held with “limited or no audience”, as one of the first major indoor events to be held in the city since the onset of the pandemic in the state, with MTV also announcing plans for the show to “[span] all five boroughs” to “pay homage to the strength, spirit and incredible resilience of NYC and its beloved residents”.
MTV eventually scrapped the indoor component of the ceremony at Barclays after “close consultation with state and local health officials” and announced that it would be conducted in an outdoor format across the city; the Center will host the 2021 show instead.[3] New one-off award categories for “Quarantine Performance” and “Best Music Video from Home” were added on July 30 in light of the ongoing pandemic. Three additional categories were announced on August 24: Song of Summer, Best Group and “Everyday Heroes: Frontline Medical Workers”, with the latter created “to celebrate performances by COVID-19 first responders”. The awards will be simulcast live by ViacomCBS half-sister network The CW on August 30, marking the VMA’s first ever broadcast on terrestrial television in the United States.
