MTV should rename the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award after Missy Elliott

Slate

Elliott was announced Monday as the first female rapper to win the MTV VMAs' lifetime achievement award. With the sexual molestation controversy surrounding Jackson, Rhodes Murphy wonders why MTV doesn't just rename the award after Elliott, whom he says "has continuously given us some of the most groundbreaking and influential video masterpieces of her generation." Murphy adds: "Though the prize was known simply as the Video Vanguard Award back when it was given to David Bowie, Richard Lester, and the Beatles at the inaugural VMAs in 1984, MTV renamed its lifetime achievement award in honor of Michael Jackson in 1991, acknowledging the Prince of Pop’s contributions to the music video format. But after 28 years and more than enough reason to reconsider Jackson’s royal legacy, maybe it’s time to rename it after another video innovator, someone who inarguably also breathed new life and creativity into the form. Someone like Missy Elliott."