Taylor Swift leads the awards table at cancelled MTV European Music Awards

Music
06 Nov 23

Taylor Swift accepts the award for Best Longform Video at the MTV Video Music Awards (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Niamh Browne

The 2023 MTV Europe Music Awards Ceremony was planned to take place on 5 November 2023 in Paris. The ceremony was cancelled on 19 October due to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, becoming the first EMAs to be cancelled in its history. Nevertheless, MTV announced its winners yesterday.

With two weeks to go to the live ceremony, MTV pulled the EMAs awards show, due to the 'volatility of world events'. However, the broadcaster allowed fans to vote for the favourite artists, with Taylor Swift leading the awards table.

In a statement written on X, MTV told fans that they decided not to move forward with the ceremony due to 'an abundance of caution'.

Given the volatility of world events, we have decided not to move forward with the 2023 MTV EMAs out of an abundance of caution for the thousands of employees, crew members, artists, fans, and partners who travel from all corners of the world to bring the show to life.

— MTV EMA (@mtvema) October 19, 2023

Taylor Swift was the big winner, with three awards – best artist, best live performer and best music video for 'Anti-Hero', despite controversy earlier this year that saw the international superstar edit the video, removing the word 'fat' from weighing scales the star stepped on in the video.

Surprisingly, the award for best US act did not go to Swift, but Nicki Minaj instead, who also won best hip-hop.

Artists who also won two awards were Jung Kook of BTS fame and former Eurovision winners Måneskin. Jung Kook won best K-pop and best song for 'Seven' (featuring Latto). Måneskin won best rock and best Italian act.

Rema was the winner in the newly-added best Afrobeats category.

David Guetta, who was born in Paris, the intended site of this year’s show, won best electronic.

Tom Grennan picked up the award for Best Uk and Irish Act, which featured no Irish nominees this year.

The 2023 EMAS was set to have been broadcast live to more than 150 countries from the Paris Nord. It would have marked the first time the ceremony has been held in the city since 1995.

This marked the first time the MTV EMA Awards have been canceled since it was launched in 1994, which ran even during the Covid 19 pandemic.

A list of highlighted awards, nominees and winners as announced yesterday can be found below:

Best Song
Doja Cat – “Paint the Town Red”

Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”

Olivia Rodrigo – “vampire”

SZA – “Kill Bill”

Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero”

Rema, Selena Gomez – “Calm Down”

WINNER: Jung Kook feat. Latto – “Seven”

Best Video
Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion – “Bongos”

Doja Cat – “Paint The Town Red”

Little Simz – “Gorilla”