MTV has given the green light to a live Video Music Awards to take place in New York on August 30, despite the global coronavirus pandemic. The award show will be the first Barclays Center event since the COVID-19 hit New York.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced the news on Monday, saying “the event will follow all safety guidance, including limited or no audience.â€
The ceremony, which last year took place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, first floated the idea of an in-person event in late May. “We are working on several contingency plans to bring music’s biggest night to audiences everywhere,†the organizers of VMAs said in a statement then, with options including audience-free and virtual events. Opting for the former over the latter is certainly a risky choice during a pandemic.
Taylor Swift receives ‘Video of the Year Award’ onstage during the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards – Getty Images
As per media reports, this year’s event “will bring together music fans worldwide and pay homage to the strength, spirit and incredible resilience of NYC and its beloved residents. The show will also feature epic performances from various iconic locations” that span all five boroughs: Brooklyn, The Bronx, Staten Island, Queens and Manhattan.
Read: Paris Fashion Week all set to return in September amid pandemic
According to the press release, measures for the upcoming award show will include “extensive social distancing procedures, meaningful capacity limitations, the virtualization of components where possible, and limited capacity or no audience.”
New York City has been the hardest hit area in the United States for coronavirus cases but is now gradually emerging from shutdowns to contain the spread of the virus.
