The Video Music Awards (VMAs) took place on Sunday, September 7, at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. Lady Gaga was crowned “Artist of the Year,” while “Song of the Year” went to Rose and Bruno Mars’ “APT,” and Alex Warren won “Best New Artist.”
However, the “Best K-Pop” award sparked controversy. BLACKPINK’s Lisa, alongside RAYE and Doja Cat, won with their collaboration Born Again—a track released entirely in English, performed by non-Korean artists. Fans questioned whether such a song should qualify as K-Pop at all.
Many netizens pointed out this discrepancy, leaving comments expressing their displeasure at awarding a non-Korean song to non-Korean artists for “Best K-Pop,” commenting:”American, British, and Thai artist wins Best K-Pop for their English-language song”Another wrote, “The VMAs asking fans to vote and then ignoring the results is truly insulting. No vote counts. No transparency. Just favoritism. This isn’t called a fan vote if they can’t decide.” Others echoed, “Best Korean song, but there isn’t a single Korean word in this song, I guess.”
MTV accused of manipulation… Where do the fan votes go?
Meanwhile, some have opened discussions about the transparency of the voting process. Many fans argued that the absence of official updates on the vote counts raises doubts, since the MTV’s own rules allow sponsor to interfere in determining the winner, regardless of the results. Critics described this as manipulation, pointing out that while the awards are promoted as a fan-choice award, but the sponsor’s intervention can ultimately decide the outcome.
One netizen wrote, “According to MTV’s official voting rules, ‘sponsors reserve the right to choose the winner,’ and they can exclude, cancel, or even override votes at their discretion. This means that no matter how many fan votes are cast, the outcome is not guaranteed to be reflected. Furthermore, they never disclose the actual vote count or show who was leading. So, there’s little transparency for the fans who give their all.”
