“Cancel The Show”: The Upcoming George Michael Tribute At The 2026 MTV VMAs Is Already Being Slammed As “Disrespectful As Hell” — Here’s Why

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Ahead of the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday, it was announced that the ceremony will include a musical tribute to the late great George Michael.

George — who sold over 100 million records and tragically died on Christmas Day in 2016 at age 53 — will be honored with a musical tribute directed by Adam Blackstone. The timing of the tribute coincides with the 10th anniversary of George's death and the release of George Michael: The Faith Tour, which arrives in theaters later this year.

George died unexpectedly, and his death was later confirmed as a result of natural causes related to heart and liver disease.

We don't yet know which songs will be included in the tribute, but Rolling Stone reported that George's hits will be performed by Raye, Sombr, and Teddy Swims. MTV confirmed this with a social media post officially announcing the tribute on Tuesday.

If you know anything about George, you'll know that he's remembered as a true LGBTQ icon. The Wham! singer faced great scrutiny over his sexuality throughout the 80s and 90s, and he publicly came out as gay during a television interview in April 1998 at age 35. The interview came days after he was arrested in Beverly Hills for "engaging in a lewd act" with an undercover police officer. After about a decade of keeping his sexuality private because of the past scrutiny he faced, George spent the rest of his career embracing his identity as an openly gay figure.

"I'm a very proud man. I want people to know that I have not been exposed as a gay man... I don't feel any shame," he said in that 1998 CNN interview. "I don't feel any shame whatsoever, and neither do I think I should."

George campaigned for LGBTQ rights and talked unashamedly about his sex life. "Gay people in the media are doing what makes straight people comfortable," he said in an interview with the Guardian in 2005. "And automatically my response to that is to say I’m a dirty filthy fucker, and if you can’t deal with it, you can’t deal with it."

In light of George's legacy as "defiant gay icon," the decision not to include any openly LGBTQ artists in the trio of performers has come as a real disappointment to fans on social media, who feel the oversight is "disrespectful as hell" and "an insult."

To be clear, this is no disrespect to the talents of Raye, Sombr, or Teddy Swims — I'm sure they'll do a great job! However, fans can't help but feel there might have been more appropriate performers to choose from, like Sam Smith, Troye Sivan, Lil Nas X, Adam Lambert, Janelle Monáe, Chappell Roan, Durand Bernarr, Ryan Beatty... the list of LGBTQ talents goes on.

"Sam smith, Adam Lambert, Durand Bernarr, Troye Sivan literally any gay guy girl get chappel roan LITERALLY ANY GAY PEOPLE," reads one X post with over 42,000 likes.

I've gotta say, I'm definitely inclined to side with the critics here. Other than Raye being British (and an incredible vocalist, obvs), there doesn't seem to be any real correlation between George and the performers, which feels like a missed opportunity for something truly iconic ahead of the 10th anniversary of his passing.

But the VMAs have been known to deliver plenty of surprises over the years, so let's wait and see what Sunday brings! BuzzFeed has reached out to an MTV representative for comment. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

The 43rd MTV VMAs will air live on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7:30 p.m. ET from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The show will air on CBS and MTV and stream on Paramount+. Here's where you can catch up on all the nominees before the big night!

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