The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) will no longer be held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, due to "safety concerns" amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
PageSix reports that the upcoming music awards ceremony on August 30 – which is set to be hosted by Keke Palmer – will now be filmed at "various outdoor locations" in New York City with "limited or no audience".
A rep for MTV and the venue said: "It became clear at this time that outdoor performances with limited or no audience would be more feasible and safer than an indoor event."
In June, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tipped the annual awards bash to be the first event held at the venue since the start of the pandemic.
The show’s producers have already held extensive discussions with local and state officials in order to ensure the event is as safe as possible amid the health crisis.
The VMAs will feature performances from the likes of Doja Cat and J Balvin, as well as a world first performance from South Korean boy band BTS, who will be debuting their English-language single ‘Dynamite’.
BTS – made up of RM, Jin, SUGA, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook – have been nominated for awards in the Best Pop, Best K-Pop, and Best Choreography categories for their hit single ‘ON’.
Elsewhere, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande lead the nominations with nine nods each.
The 34-year-old singer and the ‘7 Rings’ hitmaker have seven joint nominations for their collaborative track, ‘Rain On Me’, which is up for Video of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Collaboration, Best Pop, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Choreography.
Gaga is also nominated for Artist of the Year, and Best Quarantine Performance, whilst Ariana will battle it out with herself in the Best Collaboration category, and has a ninth nod in the Best Music Video From Home shortlist.
Ariana has no nominations for any solo awards, as her two nods which aren’t with Gaga are for her Justin Bieber quarantine-themed collaboration, ‘Stuck with U’.