Musings: Moving awards show to 9/11 is disrespectful
Shakira performs during the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2023, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Credit: AP/Charles Sykes
I am disheartened that MTV has decided to move its Video Music Awards to Sept. 11 for the live, nationally televised show because the next presidential debate has been scheduled to air on Sept 10, the date previously set for the VMAs.
It strikes me as not only insensitive to air an upbeat, fun event on that solemn day — 9/11 — when so many lost their lives.
Plus, it’s being held at UBS Arena in Elmont, only miles away from a city targeted for the terroristic attacks that continue to cause suffering so many years later.
It smacks of disrespect to those who died on 9/11 and those who became chronically ill from toxins: the first responders — the FDNY, NYPD, volunteers, medical personnel, and all New Yorkers who try to honor the memory with the reverence that the day deserves.
It should be a national day of remembrance akin to Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
— Elizabeth Colantonio, Garden City
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