{"id":610937,"date":"2026-09-25T02:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T02:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/610937\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T02:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T02:28:08","slug":"vmas-producer-on-madonna-swift-and-l-a-and-snoop-as-a-lethal-combo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/610937\/","title":{"rendered":"VMAs Producer on Madonna, Swift and ‘L.A. and Snoop as a Lethal Combo’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tYou can go home again, at least part-time, as former MTV Networks head Van Toffler<\/a> proved when he came back in 2025 as the producer of the MTV Video Music Awards<\/a>. He\u2019s back in the saddle for a second year in 2026, as the two-hour telecast enjoys its second year in a row with a prime-time spot on CBS. He and the show are are already generating much greater buzz in this reprise, between Snoop Dogg<\/a> hosting, the return of Madonna<\/a> after a 23-year absence, Taylor Swift<\/a> premiering a new music video, star-studded tributes to Dolly Parton and George Michael, a Nirvana lifetime honor and worthy young performers like Lisa, Raye and Sienna Spiro.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut speaking of home, are the VMAs\u2019 home where the heart is? The show is being broadcast from L.A.\u2019s Peacock Theater this year \u2014 the first time the show has emanated from the west coast since 2017, when it was aired from the Forum. It was his call to bring it back from New York and New Jersey, in part because he felt the downtown L.A. location was more convenient for a lot of talent, but also because of the old friend he\u2019s employing as host. Toffler, whose regular job is now as CEO of the production company Gunpowder & Sky, talked with Variety in the run-up to the show.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is your second year back in the driver\u2019s seat of the VMAs. With no slight intended toward last year, it feels like this has got a lot more heat on it.<\/p>\n

\n\tI agree wholeheartedly with that statement. This show feels like it\u2019s got a bit of everything: old, young, all genres and from Snoop to Madonna to Lisa and Raye and Sienna Spiro to Nirvana getting the Video Vanguard Award and a tribute to George Michael.<\/p>\n

\n\tI actually want to watch this year, which is saying a lot for me and awards shows.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmen. It\u2019s only two hours. So come on. Are you based in L.A. or New York? \u2026 L.A.? So you\u2019ll be done by 6:30!<\/p>\n

\n\tWIth Madonna opening the show, it\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s been 23 years since she was on the show. And she\u2019s synonymous with the VMAs, but it must just be synonymous for those of us with long memories, if it\u2019s been almost a quarter-century since she did it last.<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, look, we can deny it as much as we want, but Madonna is the M in MTV. I knew it the day I started there. She is the queen of MTV. She makes great videos. She\u2019s provocative. She always pushed us, and this year\u2019s performance will be no exception.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre you able to talk about what she\u2019ll be doing?<\/p>\n

\n\tWe are not talking about that one yet. She\u2019ll be doing a performance with special guests.<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor is having a big news cycle, with her expanded album coming out two days before the awards. And you\u2019re giving her the Artist Director Honor. Will she be the climax of the show?<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, look, hopefully\u2026 Taylor is nominated a lot in the show. There\u2019s this inaugural award that recognizes her artistry, her evolution as an artist from in front of the camera, and as songwriter, to behind the camera. She\u2019s an exceptional talent and there should be a whole bunch of Taylor Swift mentions throughout the show.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe know you\u2019re not authorized to say whether she\u2019ll be there or not to receive her award (or awards).<\/p>\n

\n\tRight. [This interview was conducted before Swift revealed she was premiering her \u201cPatient Zero\u201d music video on the telecast.]<\/p>\n

\n\tBut obviously the honorary award would not be happening if she wasn\u2019t taking part in some way.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was rhetorical, right?<\/p>\n

\n\tSure. But you\u2019re allowed to nod. Anyway, it\u2019s an interesting award because obviously this was created for Taylor, because she has had such an amazing run of directing her own videos. But \u201cinaugural\u201d suggests more to come. So are there enough people who direct their own videos that there will be a second one at some point? Not many stars have her directing track record.<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t know. It may be one and done. She is such a unique talent that who knows if there\u2019s another one of these. But her evolution as an artist is akin to some of my favorite artists \u2014 like, look at what the Beatles did in six years, or one of my favorite Brit artists, Paul Weller, going from the Jam to Style Council to his solo stuff. When I was running MTV Networks, she first started on CMT with the video \u201cTim McGraw.\u201d And then a couple years later, in 2009, we put her on the VMAs with \u201cYou Belong With Me.\u201d And she does folk, she does country, she does all kinds of genres, and she\u2019s so facile and great in all of it, and look at her live performances. So it felt like acknowledging her talent as a director was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

\n\tCan you say what the climax of the show will be?<\/p>\n

\n\tI think there will be climaxes in every act, to tell you the truth. That\u2019s kind of how we plan this as producers. We like to, as, as producers, kind of give the artists all the tools, shut the doors, throw in some lighter fluid, maybe toss a match in and say, \u201cAll right, kids, go do what you need to do.\u201d And I think that there will be moments in almost every act.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut as far as the actual ending of the show\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tIf people hold out till the end\u2026 There\u2019ll be a couple of things we won\u2019t announce. And we\u2019re still mapping out the show.<\/p>\n

\n\tCan you talk about the Dolly and George Michael and Nirvana moments?<\/p>\n

\n\tKacey Musgraves will do the musical performance for Dolly, but there\u2019ll be other elements of the tribute just recognizing Dolly\u2019s impact in music and culture. Raye, Sombr and Teddy Swims will be part of the George Michael tribute, singing some of his most iconic songs. There\u2019s a movie coming out with a lot of exclusive concert footage of George that\u2019s coming out later in the year, and it\u2019s 40 years since \u201cFaith\u201d and it\u2019s 10 years since George died, and those songs are timeless. And we have a bunch of artists on the show who love George Michael, so why not take advantage?<\/p>\n

\n\tNirvana\u2019s gonna get the Video Vanguard Award, which is the highest award MTV gives to artists. Frankly, you know, I\u2019d been gone from MTV for a while, and I was shocked that they hadn\u2019t received it to date. So I\u2019m so happy that we get to give it to them and recognize their impact in music video and music overall.<\/p>\n

\n\tLet\u2019s talk more about you being back here on the west coast. It seemed like the movie to New York was a permanent one. We\u2019ve felt slighted out here for quite a number of years, figuring we were just always going to be the leftover coast as well as the left coast.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou know you didn\u2019t care!<\/p>\n

\n\tHonest to God\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, it\u2019s fun in L.A. I think it\u2019s easier on talent, to tell you the truth. And I\u2019m back and it\u2019s just kind of\u2026 I missed it. I\u2019m happy we\u2019re back in L.A., downtown.<\/p>\n

\n\tIs there anything different about the energy in L.A. than New York, which likes to think of itself as the energy capital of the world?<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, look, here\u2019s the thing. We have the mayor of L.A. hosting the show: Snoop, who\u2019s the most beloved citizen of this community. Everyone adores him, and he\u2019s never lost his cool. From hip-hop to sports to country and pop, everyone loves Snoop.<\/p>\n

\n\tHas Snoop hosted a lot of things before?<\/p>\n

\n\tNot really, though he and I did do \u201cDoggy Fizzle Televizzle\u201d at MTV [a 2002 sketch comedy series]. And we tried a \u201clate night after dark\u201d show in the heart of Hollywood many years ago [\u201cDogg After Dark,\u201d in 2009]. He\u2019s fun as hell and just the best. So I think L.A. and Snoop is a lethal combo.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is a CBS show now, and of course it\u2019s also simulcast on MTV, but as we all know, MTV doesn\u2019t really do music videos anymore. Will it just become the CBS VMAs someday?<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t think so. The DNA of the VMAs has kind of got its own ecosystem, but it is so closely associated with MTV and the history of music video, and I don\u2019t think that will go away.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow are you feeling now in year two about being back, and part of that ecosystem again, as you put it?<\/p>\n

\n\tYou know, I was there at MTV for a couple of decades. I left in 2015. I came back to the VMAs because they\u2019ve allowed me to pursue some IP that was near and dear to me. In return they\u2019ve asked me to come back and produce the VMAs now that they\u2019ve expanded to CBS and Paramount and MTV, and try to bring as much mayhem back as possible. And candidly, my studio, Gunpowder and Sky, we make movies and documentaries. We have FAST channels and podcasts and specials, but there\u2019s nothing like live television. Anything can go wrong, right? It\u2019s such a wonderful high, and this show to me is, I think, the most fun, borderline-chaotic musical show on TV on an annual basis. So I\u2019m fired up to get back in the truck and have artists screaming over my shoulder about what a hack I am. I can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo much of the stuff you\u2019ve worked on with Gunpowder and Sky has been so enjoyable. Can you say what the IP is that you are pursuing with them?<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, that\u2019ll probably come out in the next several months. But thank you for your compliment about the Gunpowder and Sky stuff.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s the most important reason for doing this as a two-hour show? Is it knowing people have short attention spans, or does it make it easier to get multiple viewing slots in on the west coast, or\u2026 why does the two hours work?<\/p>\n

\n\tLet me ask you this. Have you or anybody you know begged for more time for an awards show? \u201cDamn, I wish that was longer?\u201d I think you can really do a lot of damage in two hours, make it fast-paced, get to the awards. Of course, there\u2019ll be awards off-camera that people will get, but two hours seems like enough to me. I think a three-and-a-half-hour show can put some people to sleep, and two is a nice, tight timeframe for an awards show.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThree-and-a-half hours\u201d even takes a long time to say. But CBS likes two hours? Because they certainly run their share of much longer awards shows.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think so, until cut to next year where it\u2019s five hours. But everyone likes the two-hour format.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You can go home again, at least part-time, as former MTV Networks head Van Toffler proved when he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,1385,10780,157,111,139,69,7390,6456,301059],"class_list":["post-610937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-madonna","tag-mtv-video-music-awards","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-snoop-dogg","tag-taylor-swift","tag-van-toffler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}