To kick off its conspicuously big star-lacking Video Music Awards event Monday night, MTV invited on comedian Kevin Hart who followed the Trump-era comedian script to a T by immediately slamming President Trump.
Joined by his co-comedian Tiffany Haddish, Hart quickly worked in some tired Trump-bashing into his introductory remarks, as noted by Mediaite.
“You never know what’s going to happen at the VMAs,” said a noticeably nervous Hart. “Beefs pop off, bad language, people run to the bathroom and send out crazy tweets. It’s basically like a typical day in the White House.”
To make sure that his audience didn’t miss that he was ripping the president, Hart yelled, “In your face, Trump! Suck it!”
That wasn’t the only jab the comedian took at Trump. He also worked in a racially charged one about the national anthem protests.
Saying he’s approaching the event like it’s “game day,” Hart told the audience that they could feel free to kneel tonight because “there’s no old white man that can stop you.”
Despite Hart’s best efforts to make a splash, the most memorable thing about this year’s VMAs is that most of the industry-leading acts chose not to show up. AP reports:
With most of music industry’s top acts absent — from Beyonce to Bruno Mars — the MTV Video Music Awards lacked star power and felt flat, and some of the winners turned heads — for the wrong reasons.
Those “wrong reasons” were not all the partisan digs at the president: they were MTV repeatedly giving awards to acts who didn’t deserve to win for just showing up.it