Madonna was set to pay tribute to the late, great Aretha Franklin and announce the recipient of the prestigious Video of the Year award at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.
Before handing over the Moon Person to Camila Cabello, though, Madonna dedicated five minutes to eulogizing Aretha. Theoretically, that is.
In reality, the only person to whom Madonna paid tribute during her speech was Madonna. She spent the entire few minutes telling the story of how she went from living in a “crackhouse” to performing at the first-ever VMAs in 1984.
Though she sprinkled in two or three references to her favorite Aretha Franklin songs, she neglected to explain the Queen of Soul’s impact or influence on her life, let alone on the world, choosing instead to describe her own triumphant rags-to-riches tale. Inspiring, sure, but not the point.
The Twitterverse was seemingly in agreement about the sheer inappropriateness of Madonna’s lengthy speech.
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