The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards had a lot of notable moments but the most unforgettable was the reflective rant/speech by Kanye West. It turns out that that moment almost didn’t happen.
MTV executive Van Toffler spoke to Billboard about the highs and the lows of VMA night. In the interview, Toffler said that Yeezy was supposed to take the stage instead of giving a 13-minute talk.
“We originally thought Kanye was going to do a medley,” Toffler said. “Then we thought he was going to not do music and talk. Then, about two acts into the show, we thought he would do a couple-song medley. This is after the show started. Then, about an act before, we found out that he might not do music and just speak — but we had to be prepared for both, so we had a track cued up. We were in the truck and we heard this 10 minutes before he was to accept the award.”
Even though people behind the scenes had no clue what Ye’ was up to, they were prepared regardless.
“We decided to be open to whatever Kanye wanted because he’s given us so many moments – unexpected ones. So we weren’t sure whether he would break into song or not. We had a track –he would have rapped to his biggest hits.”
Toffler also further confirmed that the moment between Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj was real.
“We had no idea what either of them was going to say, and we didn’t anticipate that,” he said. “Clearly, from Miley’s reaction, it was genuine.”
Read the full interview here.
