MTV VMA’s Open With Tribute To Michael Jackson

NEW YORK (AP) - For the first time, the MTV Video Music Awards didn’t start with music, but with a speech lasting several minutes.

Madonna could get away with that, especially when she was paying tribute to Michael Jackson. She compared how they were born the same month of the same year and they both grew up in large families in Midwest suburbs, but she had a childhood and he didn’t. She says she asked him out to dinner in 1991 and tried to get him to do things he normally wouldn’t do: eat French fries, drink wine, eat dessert and say bad words.

She says they lost touch and when he died, she felt like she had abandoned him. She says Jackson was the king and “long live the king.“ Then several dancers dressed in various costumes Jackson wore in his videos danced to a medley of his songs.

Janet Jackson sang and danced along with her brother to their duet “Scream.“ She looked up to heaven, took a bow and looked upset.