Adam Levine Gives The VMA’s Two Thumbs Down

Image by Getty Images
I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that Adam Levine spoke for all of us when he wrote on his personal Twitter page Sunday night that it’s “always exciting to see how utterly horrible the VMA’s will be.” This year, MTV did not underdeliver.
Levine had some harsh words for the MTV VMA’s — but they were not untrue.
It’s always exciting to see how utterly horrible the VMAs will be. They really delivered so far this year. #HOLYFUCK
— Adam Levine (@adamlevine) August 28, 2017
Julia Michaels gets cut off while she’s singing and Lorde gets to NOT sing her whole song
— Adam Levine (@adamlevine) August 28, 2017
Levine is referring to new artist, Julia Michaels, whose searing rendition of her pop hit “Issues” was cut short by a commercial break. Meanwhile, Lorde, who was too sick to sing, was allowed to do a full four minute interpretive dance to the newest single off of her album.
Although Levine didn’t specifically mention host Katy Perry’s poorly executed standup routines nor Ed Sharon’s “Best Artist” win, we can assume these moments played a part in Levine’s rating of “utterly horrible.”
Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 3
Fast Forward How Coke’s Passover recipe sparked an antisemitic conspiracy theory
- 4
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion This Nazi-era story shows why Trump won’t fix a terrifying deportation mistake
-
Opinion I operate a small Judaica business. Trump’s tariffs are going to squelch Jewish innovation.
-
Fast Forward Language apps are putting Hebrew school in teens’ back pockets. But do they work?
-
Books How a Jewish boy from Canterbury became a Zulu chieftain
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.