All the Celebs Who Were Too Cool for the 2016 VMAs
Even more than wearing sheer black dresses on the red carpet, last night there was an overwhelming celebrity VMAs trend we couldn’t help noticing: not going to the VMAs.
With two notable exceptions — Drake and Kim Kardashian — the only major celebs who showed up last night were the ones who were performing: Rihanna, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Kanye, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj.
Everybody else decided they had “something better to do,” which is just a nice way of saying they decided they’d rather do anything than fly to New York City for MTV’s biggest night of the year.
Here’s what all of those celebrities did instead.
Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber was nominated for three VMAs last night, so obviously he decided to skip the ceremony and perform a rousing rendition of “Great Balls of Fire” at some random ass karaoke bar in LA instead.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga may have new music coming out, but she decided she’d rather make a surprise guest appearance during a Tame Impala set at FYF Fest than play nice with MTV.
She’s not even playing the festival by herself!!!!!!
She just wanted to work on building up some indie cred!!!
Kylie Jenner
Kylie said on Snapchat that she was sad she wasn’t going to the VMAs this year, without providing an explanation for why she sat this one out, but she did say that she was excited to watch it on TV while eating a tupperware full of pomegranate seeds.
Yum.
Kendall Jenner
Kendall looks like she tried to go to the VMAs this year, but she couldn’t get a taxi to stop for her.
Taylor Swift
Believe it or not, Taylor Swift was silent on social media last night.
Although let’s be honest, we already know the real reason why she wasn’t at the VMAs last night.
Gigi Hadid
Maybe it was out of solidarity to Taylor, but Gigi didn’t show up last night. She did plug her new fragrance though.
Selena Gomez
Selena didn’t show up either, which we’re guessing is a decision that’s 50% solidarity to Taylor, 50% trying to avoid being asked questions about Justin Bieber all night long.
Just like Taylor, Selena was also social media silent which means that we can at least pretend that the whole squad got together last night to get drunk and eat pizza, or whatever it is that models eat at times like these.
Miley Cyrus
Last year’s host was curiously nowhere to be seen last night, although she did take the time out of her busy schedule of getting high and painting Liam’s butt to post this throwback photo.
Chris Brown
JK, who even cares where that fuckboy was last night. He wasn’t at the VMAs, and that’s enough info for us.
Demi Lovato
Demi is currently on tour with Nick Jonas right now, so the fact that she didn’t show but he did is super confusing to us.
Instead, she spent all night posting pictures from her tour and how good her hair looks on it.
Adele
Adele is on vacation right now and cannot be reached for further comment.
Mariah Carey
Unlike Britney Spears, Mimi did not cancel her Vegas shows to go to the VMAs this weekend.
Guess some diva’s got to stay and hold down the fort while Brit Brit’s away.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry and Rihanna go way back, but for some reason Katy didn’t feel the need to come through for her friend’s big night.
Instead, she got “savage AF” with some dinosaur tattoos.
Never grow up, Katy.
J Lo
Curiously enough, J Lo is actually in New York right now, and actually performed at Radio City Music Hall the night before with her ex-husband.
It’s unclear why she didn’t go to the VMAs last night, but it’s probably because she was too busy having fun with that long lost twin we never knew about.
Hanging out with family is really exhausting.
We’re not sure about everybody else, but we’ll give J Lo a pass just this once.
