Halsey slams MTV for snubbing her at VMAs
Halsey attends the 2018 MTV Movie And TV Awards (Christopher Polk/Getty)
Halsey has revealed why she didn’t attend the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards on Monday.
The American singer touched upon her absence during the event held at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, when a fan tweeted her asking why she wasn’t there.
“Bc I directed all my own music videos this album just to have @MTV ‘#wcw’ me to death and not nominate me for anything so it didn’t feel right to go,” she replied, referring to the “women crush Wednesday” hashtag, often used to highlight the work of remarkable women.
“I’m happy you guys liked the videos,” the 23-year-old hitmaker added. “That’s all that matters to me.”
To accompany her second studio album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, which was released in June 2017, Halsey unveiled a five-part set of visuals that told the story of a bisexual woman and her male lover in the style of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
Fifth Harmony’s Lauren Jauregui, who is openly bisexual and has worked with Halsey on the duet “Strangers,” tweeted in support of the singer.
“Halsey deserved at the very least a nomination last night. Consistently directed her own videos this entire era. Not to mention her attention to detail stringing them into a story. I feel like that deserves recognition, especially in a climate where most artists don’t even write,” she wrote.
Halsey thanked her, reflecting on the meaning of the song they performed together.
“We trained our asses off to make a kick-ass video this era and I’m so so proud of it. AND i’m proud of the strides that song made for LGBT representation in mainstream music. I’m lucky to have u in my corner. Both literally and figuratively,” she replied.
The star has often been candid about her sexuality and the challenges of being bisexual, winning praise for standing up for bisexual visibility.
Halsey was nominated across three categories at the MTV Viedo Music Awards in 2017 (Getty)
Since rising to prominence in 2016, Halsey—whose real name is Ashley Nicolette Frangipane—has been a regular fixture at the VMAs, performing with The Chainsmokers in that same year and going on to lead a solo production in 2017.
Last year, she was nominated across three VMA categories; Best Collaboration, Best Cinematography (for “Now or Never,” Hopeless Fountain Kingdom‘s lead single) and Best Editing.
Winners of 2018 included Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Rita Ora, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar and Ariana Grande.
“Lesbian Jesus” Hayley Kiyoko beat out the likes of Sigrid, Noah Cyrus and SZA to be named Push Artist of the Year. She was said to have bagged the nomination after she performed at Coachella for the first time back in April.
The ‘Curious’ singer dedicated her win to all queer women of colour.
