Måneskin's Spicy 2022 VMAs Performance Has Fans Upset For An Unexpected Reason
The 2022 MTV VMAs on August 28 were the talk of the town with incredible performances from Lizzo, Bad Bunny, Nicki Minaj, and more. Throw in a weird appearance from Johnny Depp and other interesting moments, and the night was pretty on-brand for MTV. However, there's one performance that had viewers and social media in a bit of an uproar.
Italian rock band Måneskin attended this year's awards, paying homage to hip hop legend Lil' Kim with their outfits for the night, per Entertainment Tonight. They even made VMA history by being the first Italian group to win the Best Alternative Video award for "I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE." Not too shabby!
So, when it came time for the group to actually grace the VMA stage, fans were really excited for them to perform. But that excitement came quickly crashing down as the performance went on — so what went wrong?
Måneskin's fans accused MTV of censorship
When Måneskin hit the stage at the VMAs, fans were pumped to see the group perform their song, "Supermodel." However, per Just Jared, things took a turn after lead singer Damiano David, who wore black chaps with a jock strap, flashed his bare butt on stage. The moment lasted mere seconds, but appeared to hit a nerve with the show's producers.
After the moment, cameras panned away from the stage for a long period of time, leaving fans at home outraged. "Not me watching the vmas just to see Maneskin and they censor the whole performance," a fan tweeted. Another vented, "Let's play a game of how many times maneskin [can] get censored by the vmas." Another Twitter user added, "MANESKIN DESERVED BETTER! first dixie mispronounced their name then VMA's completely botched the camerawork?!" Interestingly though, MTV shared the brief moment on the channel's Instagram. So it's completely possible it wasn't due to the David's bare cheeks, as one fan theorized. "I think that they cut away from maneskin so much at the due to some sort of costume malfunction," they tweeted.
This group won't any backlash keep them down, though. Måneskin is set to begin their first North American tour this fall, so fans will be able to see them at their best on stage.