Miley Cyrus made Lady Gaga look surprisingly tame as the pop stars opened the MTV Video Music Awards.
Gaga changed costumes four times Sunday night during her first return to the stage since hip surgery as she performed her new single “Applause.” It was a predictably unpredictable appearance for Gaga, who seemed to pump in boos over the sound system as she opened the song in a white nun’s habit and square headdress. By the time she finished the song, she was surrounded by unitard-clad male dancers and wearing a thong bikini decorated in shells and a long blonde wig.
Cyrus immediately kicked things up well beyond provocative, however, as she appeared on stage with a multitude of dancing teddy bears in a bodysuit adorned with a cartoon character. She twerked, changed into a nude bikini, ran a fan’s foam finger along her privates as Robin Thicke appeared on stage to perform “Blurred Lines,” then gave the singer a lap dance.
“Miley better go get a pregnancy test after all that grinding,” Kevin Hart joked afterward.
Gaga and Cyrus were just the first of a cavalcade of music’s top stars performing Sunday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the awards were held for the first time.