Looks Like The Video Music Awards Are Really Serious About That “West Side Story” Theme

noah | August 14, 2009 12:00 pm

The just-released ad for the Video Music Awards placed after the jump, featuring Cobra Starship and Gossip Girl starlet Leighton Meester, will apparently be the “first of many West Side Story-inspired VMA promos,” according to the clip’s caption. Is it super-condescending to ask how many members of the MTV target demo have even heard of the Laurents/Bernstein/Sondheim musical about inter-gang and racial tensions? Probably. But that doesn’t make the decision to theme this year’s Video Music Awards after a 52-year-old musical any less strange. Perhaps there will be a Very Special Episode of Parental Control in order to bridge the generational gap. I am already terrified by the prospect of an ad featuring a Britney Spears striptease inspired by “America.” Make it not happen, please! (And yes, you are seeing a pre-roll ad before an ad. It’s like Russian dolls!) VMA Side Story: Cobra Starship and Leighton Meester [MTV]