The MTV Video Music Awards have always thrived on chaos. It is live television, after all, and no amount of rehearsal can fully tame a night where pop stars, rock legends, and comedians share one stage. The 2026 VMAs, held on September 27, 2026, delivered big performances and memorable wins — but it also delivered a string of moments that made viewers squirm in their seats, laugh in disbelief, or reach for an imaginary fast-forward button. From a delayed start to a forgotten award and an ice cream–licking performance, here are the 10 most awkward moments from the 2026 VMAs.
1. The Show Started Streaming About 20 Minutes Late Because of a Football Game
Before a single award was handed out, the night was already running behind. A football game that went into overtime pushed the schedule back, leaving the VMAs streaming roughly 20 minutes late. Viewers who had tuned in on time were left waiting, refreshing their feeds and wondering whether the show had even started. It was a fittingly chaotic opening for a ceremony that never quite regained its footing — and a reminder that even the biggest night in music still has to wait its turn behind live sports.
2. Sienna Spiro Turned the Cameras Back on the Photographers
Red carpets usually follow a strict script: the star poses, the photographers shoot, everybody moves along. Sienna Spiro flipped that script entirely. Instead of simply posing for the cameras, she picked up a camera of her own and started photographing the photographers. The role reversal was playful and confident, and it instantly became one of the night’s most talked-about carpet moments. For a few seconds, the people who are always behind the lens found themselves on the other side of it — and they did not quite know what to do with that.
3. Sombr Stormed the Blue Carpet Wearing a “SEX” Belt
Some artists make their red carpet statement with a gown or a suit. Sombr made his with a belt. The singer arrived on the blue carpet showing off a belt emblazoned with the word “SEX,” and the bold accessory did exactly what it was designed to do: it stole the conversation. In a night full of carefully styled looks, one blunt word on a waistband stood out more than almost any outfit. It was cheeky, provocative, and impossible to ignore — which, at an awards show built on attention, is arguably the whole point.
4. Host Snoop Dogg Opened With a Knock-Knock Joke That Landed on a Crude Punchline
As host, Snoop Dogg set the tone for the evening early — and he did it with a knock-knock joke. The setup was classic and family-friendly; the punchline was not. When the answer turned out to be a crude playground gag, the room’s reaction was a mix of laughter and disbelief. It was the kind of joke that works perfectly at a party and slightly less perfectly as the opening beat of a major televised ceremony. Still, it told the audience exactly what kind of night they were in for: loose, unpredictable, and unbothered by decorum.
5. RAYE’s Gloves Got Stuck at the Worst Possible Moment
Wardrobe malfunctions are an awards-show tradition, but they are rarely this visible. RAYE hit a snag — quite literally — when her gloves got stuck during her red carpet moment. What should have been a smooth, glamorous arrival turned into an awkward struggle with her own outfit, all in front of the cameras. She handled it with good humor, but the fumble was a perfect example of live television’s cruelty: millions of people watching, no way to pause, and a pair of gloves refusing to cooperate.
6. Madonna Revealed She Had to Personally DM Sabrina Carpenter
Madonna opened the 2026 VMAs in a high-profile return, sharing the stage with younger stars — but getting there apparently took some personal outreach. The pop icon revealed that she had to personally direct-message Sabrina Carpenter to make the collaboration happen. There is something wonderfully surreal about one of the most famous performers in history sliding into another star’s DMs like any fan with a plan. It also says a lot about how the modern music industry works: even legends now seal the deal in the same app the rest of us use.
7. Nirvana’s Pat Smear Lit a Cigarette on Stage While Accepting an Award
Some moments feel like they belong to a different era, and this was one of them. While accepting an award on stage, Nirvana’s Pat Smear lit a cigarette — right there, in front of the cameras, at a modern televised ceremony. The gesture was pure old-school rock and roll, the kind of thing that would barely have raised an eyebrow decades ago but looks startling today. The audience’s reaction said it all: part nostalgia, part shock, and part wonder at how casually he did it, as if the rules of live television simply did not apply to him.
8. Rachel Dratch Played an Imaginary Sixth Spice Girl in Dunkin’ Ads During the Broadcast
Commercial breaks are supposed to be the safe part of an awards broadcast. Not this time. Viewers were greeted by a series of Dunkin’ ads featuring comedian Rachel Dratch as an imaginary sixth member of the Spice Girls, complete with an accent that left many people puzzled. The bit was clearly meant as comedy, but its placement inside the actual VMAs broadcast blurred the line between the show and the advertising around it. Social media lit up with viewers asking the same question: wait, is this part of the show? The confusion was, in its own way, the most memorable ad break of the night.
9. Madonna Forgot Which Award She Had Just Won
Even Madonna is not immune to awards-show brain fog. During the ceremony, the pop legend momentarily forgot which award she had just won — a slip that was both deeply human and deeply awkward given the size of the stage. In a night built on polish and precision, the lapse was a reminder that even the most seasoned performers can lose track of the script under the lights. The audience laughed with her, not at her, but the moment still landed squarely in the night’s hall of fame for secondhand embarrassment.
10. Yung Lean’s Performance Was Mostly Him Licking Ice Cream
The night’s strangest performance belonged to Yung Lean, whose set seemed to revolve less around the music and more around an ice cream cone. For long stretches of the performance, the focus was on him licking ice cream, leaving viewers unsure whether they were watching a concert or a very expensive dessert commercial. Reactions online were split between amusement and bewilderment, with many first-time viewers admitting they had never heard of him before — but would certainly remember him now. It was a fittingly bizarre closing note for a VMAs that never stopped surprising people.
That is the strange magic of the VMAs: for all the planning, the rehearsals, and the star power, the moments everyone remembers are almost always the ones nobody planned. The 2026 ceremony gave us a delayed start, a flipped camera, a statement belt, a crude joke, stuck gloves, a celebrity DM, a lit cigarette, a fictional Spice Girl, a forgotten award, and an ice cream cone. Awkward? Absolutely. Forgettable? Not a chance.
