It seems like every year, MTV's Video Music Awards generates some spectacular controversy, whether it's Britney Spears and Madonna sharing a kiss, or Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech, but last year's Miley Cyrus twerking scandal seemed to outdo them all. In anticipation of this year's show, airing this Sunday, conservative watchdog group Parents Television Council have written a stern letter to MTV concerning "the sexually charged and otherwise inappropriate content of the show."
"Parents and families around the country have had ample reason to be concerned about the material distributed and promoted by MTV over the years, particularly during MTV's original programming," the letter reads. "While last year's Miley Cyrus/Robin Thicke performance garnered most of the headlines after the fact, the sexually charged and otherwise inappropriate content of the show was not limited to them. Even more troubling was...that MTV still applied a TV-14 rating to the program, despite other adult-oriented performances and advertising messages. Such a rating was simply unacceptable to the families who depend on the television ratings system to be applied accurately and to the millions of families whose children are marketed to by MTV. The 2013 VMAs were a public kerfuffle for your network that I feel certain you will not wish to repeat."
The letter, which was written by PTC president Tim Winter to MTV's Senior Vice President of Standards and Practices Janet Borelli, suggested three ways that the network could avoid another "public kerfuffle":
"Commit publicly that the program will not contain the type of explicit sexual content present in last year's show."
"Commit publicly that the program will not violate MTV/Viacom's own standards and practices as was alleged last year."
"Commit publicly to rate the program accurately and in accordance with the TV Parental Guidelines, which stipulate that crude indecent language, explicit sexual activity, or graphic violence is to be rated as appropriate only for adults - TV-MA."
Well, it's official then: the VMA's will be totally squeaky clean from now on. Good work, PTC. The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards will air Sunday, August 24 at 9 p.m. ET, and will feature performances by Beyoncé, 5 Seconds of Summer, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Rita Ora, Maroon 5, Iggy Azalea, Usher, and Ariana Grande. Nothing inappropriate will happen.
