It’s August 2017, and Hillary Clinton is not the president of the United States, even if she beat current President Donald Trump in the popular vote.
For better and worse, Katy Perry has spent much of her hosting role for the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards reminding those watching of that fact.
Perry’s opening speech at The Forum in Los Angeles shakily tackled how the world is “on fire” and that a show like “The Handmaid’s Tale” is now eerily relevant. Good points, but Perry’s speech looked and sounded like a struggling comedian at an open mic.
When she later returned to talk about how voting was still open for the “Best New Artist” category, Perry referenced that popular vote issue from the 2016 election.
“Listen guys, this is one election where the popular vote actually matters,” said Perry, before adding that viewers should vote so a “Russian” artist didn’t win. In the 2016 election, Perry was a vocal supporter of Clinton’s campaign, even lending her song “Roar” to a Clinton campaign advertisement.
The VMAs host also made a statement that was actually controversial (being mad about the presidential election is likely not considered controversial on MTV). She explained that whoever won the Best New Artist competition would “join the ranks” of artists such as Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. Then she said the new winner would also join her “personal favorite, Hootie and the Blowfish.”
Now that’s an opinion worth arguing about.
Later on in a bit about Twitter, Perry put up a jokey, fake old tweet of hers about how when Clinton won, Perry would put out an album that everybody loves.
Besides the currently dire state of American politics, maybe Clinton’s loss also explains why people aren’t really getting behind Perry’s recent album “Witness”?