MTV Delays VMAs by a Day; Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan to Perform

Who’s more “Hot to Go”? Chappell Roan or Kamala Harris? America will not have to make a choice. The two hottest young singers of the moment, Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, are among the first round of performers to be announced for the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. But they will no longer be competing with a presidential debate for viewers, as previously scheduled.

The MTV VMAs had been scheduled for Sept. 10; now that that has been confirmed as the date for the first debate of election cycle between Harris and Donald Trump, MTV has moved its signature awards show back by one night, to Sept. 11.

Carpenter and Roan will be joined as performers by GloRilla, Camila Cabello and Rauw Alejandro, the network announced Monday — just the start of a lineup of artists due to roll out in the month to go before showtime.

MTV did not outrightly cite the competing debate in its announcement about the show being bumped, but the network made it unofficially clear that it has a history of encouraging civic engagement and did not want to stand in the way of viewers becoming educated about what’s at stake in a presidential election. Ratings, of course, also could have taken a hit, given the sudden surge of interest in the Harris campaign among younger demos. (A CNBC poll released Friday shows that Harris currently enjoys a 12-point lead over Trump among voters in the 18-to-34 age group.)

MTV is mindful that the bump puts the VMAs on another important day — the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks — and said in the announcement that it “will again support the nonprofit 9/11 Day, which organizes the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, and Tuesday’s Children, which serves the families of 9/11.”

As big as these two are right now, neither Carpenter nor Roan have appeared on the VMAs before. The latter artist, in fact, has not sung on any awards show before now. Carpenter did perform last year on the VMAs’ pre-telecast segment.

Alejandro and GloRilla are also first-time VMAs performers as well as nominees. GloRilla was cited by MTV as being “longest-charting female rap hitmaker of 2024.” Alejandro will premiere a track from his upcoming fifth album on the show. Cabello, the most veteran of these first five performers to be announced, will be singing on the telecast for the third time; she has previously won four VMAs.

The show will air live on Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, in 150 countries.

Nominees were announced last week. Taylor Swift leads with 10 nominations, followed by Post Malone with nine (most of those for his duet with Swift, “Fortnight”). Carpenter is tied with Ariana Grande and Eminem with six nominations each. Following behind with multiple nods are Megan Thee Stallion and SZA (five each), and Lisa, Olivia Rodrigo and Teddy Swims (four each).

Roan is a nominee for best new artist at the VMAs. Her competitors in that category are Shaboozey, Boone, Roan, Swims, Tyla and Gracie Abrams. (Carpenter is not nominated for new artist, likely because she already has a substantial history of recordings going into 2024, as evidenced by her appearance on the VMAs pre-telecast last year… though it’s believed the Grammys are going to rule Carpenter eligible for their own new artist category.)

The VMAs’ executive producers are Bruce Gillmer and Den of Thieves co-founder Jesse Ignjatovic, with Barb Bialkowski as co-executive producer. Alicia Portugal and Jackie Barba are the executives in charge of production; Wendy Plaut is executive in charge of celebrity talent; and Lisa Lauricella is the show’s music talent executive.