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

cobra-starship-140x105The 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]

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

  1. by michaela at 12:32 pm

    OMG, they totally filmed that at the Transit Museum at Jay Street.

  2. by k-rex at 12:36 pm

    With musicals, it doesn’t matter how long ago it was written. It’s age is determined by when it was last performed by a local high school.

  3. by drinkypuss at 12:38 pm

    I can’t wait to see Drake’s take on Officer Krupke.

  4. by Maura at 12:57 pm

    IMPORTANT ADDENDUM:

    “Taylor Swift is joining Cobra Starship, Katy Perry, Russell Brand and Ne-Yo for a special version of the classic “West Side Story” tune “Tonight,” for a promo of the 2009 Video Music Awards’ return to the Big Apple.”

  5. by ClintonD at 10:14 pm

    Heh, I was amused by how they called themselves “the latest craze”. Way to stroke your own egos, Cobra Starship!

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