It came from the viewers themselves, both urban and rural, via deep research the network has been doing into their tastes, habits, and politics. The event didn’t adopt this inclusive, diversity-celebrating tone by accident, or even because it reflects a liberal worldview of the executives who run MTV. And Pink gave a moving speech about resisting gender conformity, recalling how she comforted her daughter, who had been teased for looking like a boy, with images of androgynous rock stars. Artists with seemingly divergent fan bases-such as Sheeran and the rapper Lil Uzi Vert-came together onstage.

Performances from Kendrick Lamar, Logic, and Alessia Cara all had a distinctly empowering slant, addressing black identity, suicide prevention, and body image, respectively. The Moonman statuette itself, an homage to the iconic flag-planting astronaut logo from the network’s early days, was rebranded as the Moon Person. The categories, to begin with, eschewed gender-just as the MTV Movie & TV Awards had three months earlier-so that Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars competed on level ground with Lorde and Ariana Grande for Artist of the Year (Sheeran won).

What happend to mtv