feature image photo by Mike Coppola / Staff via Getty Images
As I’m sure you know if you’ve been on literally any website today, the VMAs were this weekend. What you might not know if you didn’t catch it live is that it was a pretty gay affair. And I’m going to highlight some of the gay goings-on for you, in case you don’t feel like watching the whole dang thing.
First up, some queer people who took home a coveted Moonman:
Lady Gaga won Artist of the Year, Best Direction, and Best Art Direction (all before heading directly to Madison Square Garden to perform to a sold-out audience…just a casual Sunday). She also won Best Collaboration for her joint venture with Bruno Mars, Die with a Smile.
KATSEYE won Push Performance of the Year, Doechii’s won Best Hip-Hop, Best Choreography for “Anxiety”, Lisa ft. Doja Cat & Raye took home Best K-Pop, and Charli xcx’s Guess Featuring Billie Eilish won Video for Good because of the over-10,000 pairs of underwear donated to I Support the Girls, a charity that provides underwear and period products to women in need.
A stand-out moment of the show was when Sabrina Carpenter took to the stage to perform her new song, “Tears”, and included in her retinue of backup dancers were RuPaul Drag Race queens, including Denali, Willam, Symone, Laganja Estranja, and Lexi Love. The backup dancers all held signs that had pro-trans (and pro-LGBTQ+ in general) messaging on them, including but not limited to, “Support local drag,” “DOLLS DOLLS DOLLS”, “Good bi”, “In trans we trust”, and “Protect trans rights”. In her acceptance speech when she won Best Album, Sabrina Carpenter addressed the queens and expressed her gratitude to be part of something so positive amidst all the negativity and discrimination going on in our world.
Watch the full performance here:
Also worth mentioning: Ariana Grande thanked us in her acceptance speech! Okay maybe not you and me specifically but also not NOT you and me specifically! When she went up to accept one of her three awards won last night, she said, “Thank you to my therapists and gay people, I love you.” And while this is very cute and sweet — especially now that she’s now a “gay icon” to gay men AND a queer icon to the sapphics who love Wicked — it’s also more than that, especially in 2025 when there are literal “don’t say gay” bills being passed.
I’ll leave you with this handy dandy list that Them pulled together of what some of the LGBTQ+ celebs wore on the red carpet. And this bonus video of Rebecca Black being AT the VMAs but still having to watch Tate McRae’s performance on her phone because she went to get food and they wouldn’t let her back in until the commercial break. Stars, they’re just like us!
And The Award for Links I Thought You Might Like Goes To…
+ Ayo Edebiri gracefully responded to an absurd journalist question that implied the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements were over and also that they were a net negative
+ Young Sheldon star Raegan Revord comes out as non-binary and publishes a queer novel at 17 — the kids are alright
+ If you heard a high-pitched squeal earlier today it was just me finding out that one of my favorite gay video games, Life is Strange, is going to be turned into a live-action television series by queer, nonbinary creator Charlie Covell
+ The movie Christy about a queer boxer starring Sydney Sweeney and Katy O’Brien premiered at TIFF
+ The good news is, we’re apparently getting a third Camp Rock movie over 15 years after Camp Rock 2 came out…the bad news is, it seems unlikely Demi Lovato will return (but maybe Alyson Stoner will??)
+ Amita Suman (Shadow & Bone) and Lara Rossi (Horizon Zero Dawn) play girlfriends in the latest NCIS spinoff: Tony & Ziva
+ Roxane Gay will be receiving the wordily named but much deserved 2025 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community
+ Ruby Cruz is proud to be able to play so many queer characters, including her character in her upcoming movie Threesome
+ Chrishell and G-Flip are apparently planning on having a wedding every year; this year was medieval themed, the next one might be Wednesday themed
+ The video game Marvel Rivals has introduced a lesbian Asgardian princess (Thor’s half-sister, in fact) whose wife is a trans Angel
+ And last but not least, Reneé Rapp would love it if people would stop bringing her “big fucking lesbian name” into drama that has nothing to do with her
