Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine called out MTV on Friday when he mistakenly thought Childish Gambino had not been nominated for a VMA. According to Vulture , Levine expressed his displeasure over the “This Is America” rapper’s supposed lack of a nomination.
“This year, Childish Gambino released one of the most impactful, thought-provoking and intelligent videos ever made. I’m sure he doesn’t care that he wasn’t nominated for a VMA because he’s cool as f–k and everything. But I care. Because I’m NOT that cool,” Levine said. “And I still want MTV to mean something again. But it won’t. Ever. K bye.”
Though Levine’s tweets say he’s sticking up for Childish Gambino – who’s real name is Donald Glover – it turns out the rapper was nominated. Gambino was nominated in seven categories: Video of the Year, Video With a Message, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Choreography, and Best Editing.
Levine deleted his initial post after learning of Gambino’s nominations. He then tweeted about the VMAs again, saying, “S**t. I don’t usually put my foot in my mouth. But this time, I did. ‘This is America’ actually WAS nominated for 7 VMAs. How I didn’t get the right info is beyond me. I stand corrected. I’m sorry MTV. Still hate you though. but mostly, I’m sorry.”
Additionally, Levine took to his Instagram on Saturday to address his mix up, according to E! News . He stated that he had been busy all day prepping for a trip when he learned that Maroon 5’s video for “Girls Like You” had not been nominated.
“Big shocker. It doesn’t surprise me. They always blow us off,” Levine said. He added that he thought that of course, the video for “This is America” had to be nominated because it was “the best video of the year.”
Levine said that he Googled to see if Gambino had been nominated and didn’t see that he had indeed.
“Basically, he was nominated—like, seven times over—and I look like a moron. But, I’m just going to come out here and say, ‘I f–ked up. My bad.’ Sorry, MTV. You did good. Now, make sure he wins,” Levine said.
This isn’t the first time Levine has called out MTV or the VMAs. In 2011, Levine tweeted, “The VMA’s. One day a year when MTV pretends to still care about music. I’m drawing a line in the sand. F–k you VMA’s.” In 2014, Maroon 5 performed for the first time on the network at the VMAs, performing “Maps” and “One More Night.”
Last year, he tweeted about the VMAs while at home, saying “It’s always exciting to see how utterly horrible the VMAs will be. They really delivered so far this year. #HOLYF–K” after Julia Michaels and Lorde had been “cut off” during their performances.
