2001 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2001 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 6, 2001, honoring the best music videos from June 10, 2000, to June 8, 2001. The show was hosted by Jamie Foxx at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. This was also the last awards show to be held prior to the September 11 attacks, which occurred five days later, and it featured the World Trade Center towers in Limp Bizkit's winning rock video.
Highlights of the show included a surprise appearance by Michael Jackson at the end of NSYNC's performance and a controversial performance from Britney Spears, in which she danced to "I'm a Slave 4 U" while utilizing a host of live animals, including a large albino snake draped over her shoulders. Macy Gray wore a dress with a promotional message, instructing viewers to buy her new album. Andy Dick portrayed a fictional cousin of Christina Aguilera, Daphne Aguilera, who, in a skit, "attacked" Aguilera in the audience. The show also featured memorials for Aaliyah and Joey Ramone. Many of the night's winners dedicated awards to the two fallen musicians over the course of the telecast.
Fatboy Slim took home six Moonmen, the most of the evening, for his "Weapon of Choice" video, which featured the dancing talents of actor Christopher Walken. NSYNC's "Pop" took home four awards. Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, Pink and Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott took home two awards, including the Video of the Year award, for their collaborative rendition of "Lady Marmalade".
Nominations
Winners are in bold text.Video of the Year
Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink – "Lady Marmalade"- Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott – "Get Ur Freak On"
- Eminem – "Stan"
- Fatboy Slim – "Weapon of Choice"
- Janet Jackson – "All for You"
- U2 – "Beautiful Day"
Best Male Video
- Eminem – "Stan"
- Lenny Kravitz – "Again"
- Nelly – "Ride wit Me"
- Robbie Williams – "Rock DJ"
Best Female Video
- Dido – "Thank You"
- Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott – "Get Ur Freak On"
- Janet Jackson – "All for You"
- Jennifer Lopez – "Love Don't Cost a Thing"
- Madonna – "Don't Tell Me"
Best Group Video
- Destiny's Child – "Survivor"
- Incubus – "Drive"
- Dave Matthews Band – "I Did It"
- U2 – "Elevation "
Best New Artist in a Video
- Coldplay – "Yellow"
- Nikka Costa – "Like a Feather"
- David Gray – "Babylon"
- Sum 41 – "Fat Lip"
Best Pop Video
- Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink – "Lady Marmalade"
- Backstreet Boys – "The Call"
- Destiny's Child – "Survivor"
- Britney Spears – "Stronger"
Best Rock Video
- Aerosmith – "Jaded"
- Linkin Park – "Crawling"
- Staind – "It's Been Awhile"
- Weezer – "Hash Pipe"
Best R&B Video
- 112 – "Peaches & Cream"
- Sunshine Anderson – "Heard It All Before"
- R. Kelly – "I Wish"
- Jill Scott – "Gettin' In the Way"
Best Rap Video
- Eminem – "Stan"
- Ja Rule – "Put It on Me"
- Jay-Z – "I Just Wanna Love U "
- Snoop Dogg – "Lay Low"
Best Hip-Hop Video
- The Black Eyed Peas – "Request + Line"
- City High – "What Would You Do?"
- Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott – "Get Ur Freak On"
- Eve – "Let Me Blow Ya Mind"
Best Dance Video
- Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink – "Lady Marmalade"
- Fatboy Slim – "Weapon of Choice"
- Janet Jackson – "All for You"
- Jennifer Lopez – "Love Don't Cost a Thing"
Best Video from a Film
- Destiny's Child – "Independent Women Part I"
- DMX – "No Sunshine"
- K-Ci & JoJo – "Crazy"
- U2 – "Elevation "
Breakthrough Video
- Common – "Geto Heaven "
- Gorillaz – "Clint Eastwood"
- 'N Sync – "Pop"
- R.E.M. – "Imitation of Life"
- Robbie Williams – "Rock DJ"
Best Direction in a Video
- Eminem – "Stan"
- Linkin Park – "Crawling"
- OutKast – "Ms. Jackson"
- R.E.M. – "Imitation of Life"
Best Choreography in a Video
- Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink – "Lady Marmalade"
- Janet Jackson – "All for You"
- Madonna – "Don't Tell Me"
Best Special Effects in a Video
- Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott – "Get Ur Freak On"
- Fatboy Slim – "Weapon of Choice"
- U2 – "Elevation "
Best Art Direction in a Video
- Aerosmith – "Jaded"
- Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink – "Lady Marmalade"
- Gorillaz – "Clint Eastwood"
Best Editing in a Video
- Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott – "Get Ur Freak On"
- 'N Sync – "Pop"
- U2 – "Elevation "
Best Cinematography in a Video
- Aerosmith – "Jaded"
- Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott – "Get Ur Freak On"
- Eminem – "Stan"
MTV2 Award
- Craig David – "Fill Me In"
- Gorillaz – "Clint Eastwood"
- India.Arie – "Video"
- Jurassic 5 – "Quality Control"
- Alicia Keys – "Fallin'"
Viewer's Choice
- Backstreet Boys – "The Call"
- Destiny's Child – "Independent Women Part I"
- Eve – "Let Me Blow Ya Mind"
- Limp Bizkit – "My Way"
- Nelly – "Ride wit Me"
International Viewer's Choice Awards
[MTV Australia]
Paul Mac – "Just the Thing"- Aneiki – "Pleased to Meet You"
- The Avalanches – "Since I Left You"
- Fatt Dex – "Creepin'"
- Superheist – "Step Back"
[MTV Brasil]
- Ana Carolina – "Quem de Nós Dois"
- Adriana Calcanhotto – "Devolva-Me"
- Wanessa Camargo – "O Amor Não Deixa"
- Catedral – "Eu Amo Mais Você"
- Patrícia Coelho – "O Meu Sangue Ferve por Você"
- Cogumelo Plutão – "Esperando na Janela"
- Falamansa – "Rindo à Toa/Xote dos Milagres"
- Jota Quest – "O Que Eu Também Não Entendo"
- KLB – "Ela Não Está Aqui"
- Maurício Manieri – "Primavera"
- Mary's Band – "Happy Birthday"
- Os Paralamas do Sucesso – "Aonde Quer Que Eu Vá"
- O Rappa – "O Que Sobrou do Céu"
- Rumbora – "O Mapa da Mina"
- Sandy & Junior – "A Lenda"
- Skank – "Balada do Amor Inabalável"
- Tihuana – "Que Vês?"
- Twister – "40 Graus"
- Jay Vaquer – "A Miragem"
[MTV India] (Hindi film">Bollywood">Hindi film category)
- Sunidhi Chauhan, Jaspinder Narula and Shankar Mahadevan – "Bumbro"
- Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan – "Aaja Mahiya"
- Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh and Srinivas – "Mitwa"
- Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan – "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hain Dil Se"
[MTV India] (Hindi pop">Indian pop">Hindi pop category)
- Lucky Ali – "Tere Mere Saath"
- Colonial Cousins – "Guiding Star"
- Falguni Pathak – "Meri Chunar Udd Jaye"
- Shubha Mudgal – "Mann Ke Manjeere"
[MTV Japan]
- Chemistry – "Pieces of a Dream"
- Gospellers – "Towa Ni"
- L'Arc-en-Ciel – "Stay Away"
- Misia – "Rhythm Reflection"
[MTV Korea]
- Cho Sung Mo – "Do You Know?"
- Lee Seung-Hwan – "Of You, for You"
- Park Ji-yoon – "Adult Ceremony"
- Position – "I Love You"
[MTV Latin America] (North)
- Control Machete – "Amores Perros "
- Genitallica – "Imagina"
- La Ley – "Fuera de Mí"
- Paulina Rubio – "Y Yo Sigo Aquí"
[MTV Latin America] (Central)
- Chancho en Piedra – "Eligiendo una Reina"
- La Ley – "Fuera de Mí"
- Paulina Rubio – "Y Yo Sigo Aquí"
- Stereo 3 – "Atrévete a Aceptarlo"
[MTV Latin America] (South)
- Natalia Oreiro – "Tu Veneno"
- Fito Páez – "El Diablo de Tu Corazón"
- Paulina Rubio – "Y Yo Sigo Aquí"
- Alejandro Sanz – "El Alma al Aire"
[MTV Mandarin]
- Jacky Cheung – "Complain for Reason"
- Gigi Leung – "The Price of Love"
- Liang Jing Ru – "Courage"
- Karen Mok – "Lazy to Bother"
- Sticky Rice – "Taekwondo"
- Stefanie Sun – "The Happiness That I Need"
- Nicholas Tse – "Jade Butterfly"
- Leehom Wang – "Son of Dragon"
- Zhang Hui Mei – "One Night Stand"
[MTV Russia]
- Alsou – "Before You Love Me"
- Mumiy Troll – "Moya Pevitsa"
MTV Southeast Asia
- Black Maria – "Veto"
- Dome – "Pa Lao"
- Naif – "Posessif"
Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award
Performances
Pre-show
- Alien Ant Farm – "Smooth Criminal"
- City High – "What Would You Do?"/"Caramel"
Main show
- Jennifer Lopez – "Love Don't Cost a Thing"/"I'm Real "
- Linkin Park and The X-Ecutioners – "One Step Closer"
- Alicia Keys – "Für Elise"/"Fallin'"
- NSYNC – "Pop"
- Jay-Z – "Izzo "
- Staind – "Fade"
- Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott – "Get Ur Freak On "/"One Minute Man"
- U2 – "Elevation"/"Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of"
- Britney Spears – "I'm a Slave 4 U"
Appearances
Pre-show
- Chris Connelly and Gideon Yago – announced the winners of the professional categories and Breakthrough Video
Main show
- Bond – performed during Jamie Foxx's opening number
- Backstreet Boys – presented Best Hip-Hop Video
- Will Ferrell – parodied the Tim Commerford incident from the 2000 VMAs
- Destiny's Child – presented Best Direction in a Video
- Janet Jackson – introduced a tribute to Aaliyah
- Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Ginuwine and Rashad Haughton – paid tribute to late singer Aaliyah
- Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore and Dream – presented Best Dance Video
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. – introduced Linkin Park
- Julia Stiles and Chris Kattan – performed an "interpretive dance" to the Viewer's Choice Award nominees
- Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink – presented Best Male Video
- Will Smith – presented Best Female Video
- Nelly, Macy Gray and Mary J. Blige – presented Best New Artist in a Video
- Christopher Walken – introduced 'N Sync
- Moby, Eve and Gwen Stefani – presented the MTV2 Award
- Andy Dick – performed a snippet of "Naughty Baby Did a No-No"
- Tenacious D – presented Best Group Video
- Usher and Estella Warren – presented Best R&B Video
- DMX and Mark Wahlberg – introduced Staind
- P. Diddy and Ben Stiller – presented Best Rap Video
- Triumph the Insult Comic Dog – appeared in a vignette about the Viewer's Choice Award
- Nikka Costa and Sheryl Crow – presented Best Pop Video
- Shakira and Busta Rhymes – introduced Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, Ludacris, Nelly Furtado and Trina
- Jon Bon Jovi and Jewel – presented Best Video from a Film
- Carson Daly – presented the Video Vanguard Award
- Ramones – received a tribute from U2 during their Video Vanguard acceptance speech
- Johnny Knoxville and Snoop Dogg – presented Best Rock Video
- Ananda Lewis – presented Viewer's Choice with the winners of MTV's "Last Fans Standing" contest
- OutKast – introduced Britney Spears
- Kid Rock and Mick Jagger – presented Video of the Year
- Bhagavan Antle was on stage with a tiger during Britney Spears' live performance of I'm a Slave 4 U.