2017 MTV Video Music Awards
Date	Sunday, August 27, 2017 (2017-08-27)
Venue	The Forum (Inglewood, California)
Country	United States
Hosted by	Katy Perry
Most awards	Kendrick Lamar (6)
Most nominations	Kendrick Lamar (8)
Website	www.mtv.com/vma/
Television/radio coverage
Network	MTV MTV2 VH1 MTV Classic BET CMT Comedy Central Logo TV Spike TV Land
Runtime	185 minutes
Produced by	Bruce Gillmer Garrett English Jesse Ignjatovic
Directed by	Alex Rudzinski
← 2016 · MTV Video Music Awards · 2018 →

The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 27, 2017 at The Forum in Inglewood, California,^[1] honoring music videos released between June 25, 2016 and June 23, 2017. It was hosted by Katy Perry.^[2][3] The 34th annual award show aired live from the venue for the second time in its history. The music video for Taylor Swift's song "Look What You Made Me Do" premiered during the broadcast. Lil Yachty co-hosted the pre-show with Terrence J, Charlamagne Tha God, and MTV News' Gaby Wilson, while Gabbie Hanna hosted backstage for the show.^[4] It was broadcast across various Viacom networks and their related apps.

Compared to the previous year, viewership was down from 6.5 million to 5.68 million viewers, making it the lowest viewed show since 1994. A combination of having to compete with the season finale of HBO's Game of Thrones, which drew over 12.07 million viewers, and the ability to now stream the award show online is said to account for the drop in viewership.^[5][6]

Performances

Source:^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]}

Appearances

Pre-show

• Gaby Wilson — announced the winners of Best Choreography and Song of the Summer

Main show

• Jack McBrayer, Buzz Aldrin, Peggy Whitson, Abbi Jacobson, Kathryn Hahn and Kevin Bacon — appeared in a skit with host Katy Perry
• Paris Jackson — presented Best Pop Video
• Hailee Steinfeld — introduced Julia Michaels
• Yara Shahidi — introduced Shawn Mendes
• Jack Antonoff and Alessandra Ambrosio — introduced Lorde
• Teyana Taylor and Pete Wentz — presented Best Dance Video
• Fred Armisen — appeared in a skit with host Katy Perry
• DJ Khaled — introduced Fifth Harmony
• Ludacris and Olivia Munn — presented Best Collaboration
• Jared Leto — paid tribute to Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell and introduced a clip of Linkin Park's 2010 VMA performance
• Billy Eichner — appeared in a skit with host Katy Perry
• Pete Davidson and Tiffany Haddish — presented Best Hip Hop Video
• Cardi B — introduced Demi Lovato
• Ellen DeGeneres — presented the Video Vanguard Award
• Millie Bobby Brown — presented Artist of the Year
• Vanessa Hudgens — introduced Alessia Cara
• Kesha — introduced Logic, Khalid and Alessia Cara
• Bebe Rexha and The Chainsmokers — presented Best New Artist
• Lil Yachty — introduced Thirty Seconds to Mars
• Rev. Robert Wright Lee IV — gave a speech denouncing racism and introduced Susan Bro
• Susan Bro — spoke about the Heather Heyer Foundation and presented Best Fight Against the System
• Hailey Baldwin — introduced Rod Stewart and DNCE
• Gal Gadot — presented Video of the Year
• Noah Cyrus — introduced Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj

Source:^[13]

Winners and nominees

The list of nominations was revealed on July 25, 2017. For the nominations, MTV continued to eliminate gender-specific awards categories, as they did at the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards. MTV also announced the "Moonman" statue would be renamed a "Moon Person".^[14] The Best Female and Best Male Video awards were replaced with one category, Artist of the Year. Kendrick Lamar leads the list of nominees with eight categories, while Katy Perry, The Weeknd, and DJ Khaled received the second most nods with five.^[15] Nominees for Song of the Summer category were announced on August 22, 2017.^[16] Winners are listed in bold.^[17]

Video of the Year

Kendrick Lamar — "Humble"

• Alessia Cara — "Scars to Your Beautiful"
• DJ Khaled (featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller) — "Wild Thoughts"
• Bruno Mars — "24K Magic"
• The Weeknd — "Reminder"

Artist of the Year

Ed Sheeran

• Ariana Grande
• Kendrick Lamar
• Lorde
• Bruno Mars
• The Weeknd

Best New Artist

Khalid

• Noah Cyrus
• Kodak Black
• Julia Michaels
• SZA
• Young M.A

Best Collaboration

Zayn and Taylor Swift — "I Don't Wanna Live Forever"

• The Chainsmokers (featuring Halsey) — "Closer"
• DJ Khaled (featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller) — "Wild Thoughts"
• DRAM (featuring Lil Yachty) — "Broccoli"
• Calvin Harris (featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Big Sean) — "Feels"
• Charlie Puth (featuring Selena Gomez) — "We Don't Talk Anymore"

Best Pop

Fifth Harmony (featuring Gucci Mane) — "Down"

• Miley Cyrus — "Malibu"
• Shawn Mendes — "Treat You Better"
• Katy Perry (featuring Skip Marley) – "Chained to the Rhythm"
• Ed Sheeran — "Shape of You"
• Harry Styles — "Sign of the Times"

Best Hip Hop

Kendrick Lamar — "Humble"

• Big Sean — "Bounce Back"
• Chance the Rapper — "Same Drugs"
• DJ Khaled (featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne) — "I'm the One"
• DRAM (featuring Lil Yachty) — "Broccoli"
• Migos (featuring Lil Uzi Vert) — "Bad and Boujee"

Best Dance

Zedd and Alessia Cara — "Stay"

• Afrojack (featuring Ty Dolla $ign) — "Gone"
• Calvin Harris — "My Way"
• Kygo and Selena Gomez — "It Ain't Me"
• Major Lazer (featuring Justin Bieber and MØ) — "Cold Water"

Best Rock

Twenty One Pilots — "Heavydirtysoul"

• Coldplay — "A Head Full of Dreams"
• Fall Out Boy — "Young and Menace"
• Foo Fighters — "Run"
• Green Day — "Bang Bang"

Best Fight Against the System

• Big Sean — "Light"
• Alessia Cara — "Scars to Your Beautiful"
• The Hamilton Mixtape (K'naan, Snow Tha Product, Riz MC and Residente) – "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)"
• John Legend — "Surefire"
• Logic (featuring Damian Lemar Hudson) – "Black Spiderman"
• Taboo (featuring Shailene Woodley) – "Stand Up / Stand N Rock #NoDAPL "

Best Cinematography

Kendrick Lamar — "Humble." (Director of Photography: Scott Cunningham)

• DJ Shadow (featuring Run the Jewels) — "Nobody Speak" (Director of Photography: David Proctor)
• Halsey — "Now or Never" (Director of Photography: Kristof Brandl)
• Imagine Dragons — "Thunder" (Director of Photography: Matthew Wise)
• Ed Sheeran — "Castle on the Hill" (Director of Photography: Steve Annis)

Best Direction

Kendrick Lamar — "Humble." (Directors: Dave Meyers and The Little Homies)

• Alessia Cara — "Scars to Your Beautiful" (Director: Aaron A)
• Bruno Mars — "24K Magic" (Directors: Cameron Duddy and Bruno Mars)
• Katy Perry (featuring Skip Marley) — "Chained to the Rhythm" (Director: Mathew Cullen)
• The Weeknd — "Reminder" (Director: Glenn Michael)

Best Art Direction

Kendrick Lamar — "Humble." (Art Director: Spencer Graves)

• DJ Khaled (featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller) — "Wild Thoughts" (Art Director: Damian Fyffe)
• Bruno Mars — "24K Magic" (Art Director: Alex Delgado)
• Katy Perry (featuring Migos) — "Bon Appétit" (Art Director: Natalie Groce)
• The Weeknd — "Reminder" (Art Directors: Lamar C Taylor and KID. STUDIO)

Best Visual Effects

Kendrick Lamar — "Humble." (Visual Effects: Jonah Hall of Timber)

• Kyle (featuring Lil Yachty) — "iSpy" (Visual Effects: Max Colt and Tomash Kuzmytskyi of GloriaFX)
• Katy Perry (featuring Skip Marley) — "Chained to the Rhythm" (Visual Effects: MIRADA)
• Harry Styles — "Sign of the Times" (Visual Effects: Cédric Nivoliez of ONE MORE)
• A Tribe Called Quest — "Dis Generation" (Visual Effects: Brandon Hirzel of Bemo)

Best Choreography

Kanye West — "Fade" (Choreographers: Teyana Taylor, Guapo, Matthew Pasterisa, Jae Blaze and Derek Watkins)

• Fifth Harmony (featuring Gucci Mane) — "Down" (Choreographer: Sean Bankhead)
• Ariana Grande (featuring Nicki Minaj) — "Side to Side" (Choreographers: Brian and Scott Nicholson)
• Kendrick Lamar — "Humble." (Choreographer: Dave Meyers)
• Sia — "The Greatest" (Choreographer: Ryan Heffington)

Best Editing

Young Thug — "Wyclef Jean" (Editors: Ryan Staake and Eric Degliomini)

• The Chainsmokers (featuring Halsey) — "Closer" (Editor: Jennifer Kennedy)
• Future — "Mask Off" (Editor: Vinnie Hobbs of VHPost)
• Lorde — "Green Light" (Editor: Nate Gross of Exile Edit)
• The Weeknd — "Reminder" (Editor: Red Barbaza)

Song of the Summer

Lil Uzi Vert — "XO Tour Llif3"

• Camila Cabello (featuring Quavo) — "OMG"
• DJ Khaled (featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller) — "Wild Thoughts"
• Fifth Harmony (featuring Gucci Mane) — "Down"
• Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee (featuring Justin Bieber) — "Despacito (Remix)"
• Demi Lovato — "Sorry Not Sorry"
• Shawn Mendes — "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back"
• Ed Sheeran — "Shape of You"

Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award

• Pink