Pop queen's crown sealed with kisses

Published on Friday 29 August 2003 01:00

MADONNA and Britney Spears stole the show at the MTV Video Music Awards when they shared an open-mouthed kiss on stage.

The singers joined Christina Aguilera to sing a cover of Like a Virgin in tribute to the Queen of Pop to open the New York show.

Then, while Madonna sang her new song Hollywood in a masculine all-black outfit, she shared an open-mouthed kiss with both Aguilera and Spears.

It was all in a night’s work for MTV’s annual extravaganza, where music takes a back seat to wacky antics and eye-popping performances.

It was a successful night for British bands with Coldplay and Radiohead among the winners.

Coldplay took the Breakthrough Video, Direction and Group Video awards for The Scientist, and Radiohead won the Art Direction accolade for There, There.

There were no big winners - Missy Elliott’s Work It won two awards, including Video of the Year, while Justin Timberlake, Coldplay and Beyonce had three apiece.

Country legend Johnny Cash, 71, nominated seven times for Hurt, won once.

As usual, the most memorable moments had nothing to do with the trophies.

Besides the bump-and-grind number from Madonna, Spears and Aguilera, there was 50 Cent’s pimp-a-licous performance of P.I.M.P. during which he was joined on stage by Snoop Dogg, the ubiquitous former pimp Bishop Don Magic Juan, members of his G-Unit posse - and a bevy of half-naked women.

"Today is the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech - isn’t it nice to see that his dream has finally come true?" cracked host Chris Rock after 50 and company left the stage.

Eminem, who won one award for best video from a film for Lose Yourself, poked fun at his verbal tussle with a smart-mouthed puppet at last year’s awards.

"I got into this little anger management programme . . . and today I stand before you a changed man," said Eminem, on stage with the puppet Ed from the off-colour, off-Broadway musical, Avenue Q.

"Working with Ed has taught me that puppets, just like people, have feelings too," Eminem said gently - before attacking the puppet for being too talkative.

And Fred Durst and Jack Black poked fun at last year’s embarrassing moment, when Michael Jackson thought a birthday trophy presented to him was an Artist of the Millennium award.

"If someone had told me, when I was a kid, that I was going to win the super-genius of the century award, I would have never of believed it," gushed Black, wearing a Jacko-esque outfit complete with metallic shin guards.

However, the evening had a potential to be poignant. Cash’s haunting Hurt threatened to upstage all the craziness at the Radio City Music Hall extravaganza.

Although Cash had hoped to attend, he was in hospital with a stomach complaint.

More people were familiar with Missy Elliott’s Work It, the most-nominated video, with eight nods.

The music clip was loaded with special effects, dancing and surreal images. It won the evening’s first award, for best hip-hop video, which Elliott picked up after participating in the Madonna tribute.

Beyonce’s video Crazy In Love, featuring her boyfriend Jay-Z, won three awards. She gave a showstopping, hip-shaking performance with dozens of dancers, garnering a standing ovation from the crowd.

Nominated for seven awards was Timberlake’s Cry Me A River video, which takes a not-so-subtle dig at ex-girlfriend Spears - the video features Timberlake exacting revenge on a cheating Spears lookalike.

Timberlake won best pop video for Cry Me A River, and best male video, beating Cash.

"This is a travesty! I demand a recount," he said, before paying tribute to Cash.

"My grandfather raised me on Johnny Cash," he said, "and I think he deserves this more than any of us in here tonight."