They introduced us to their song “I Wanna Be Your Slave” at the Wiwi Jam at Home concert during Eurovision 2021, watching it wrack up more than 53 million views.
And Måneskin followed that performance up with an eye-catching official music video, which on Sunday won a coveted MTV Video Music Award.
Topping the Best Alternative music video category, they beat out competition from the likes of Avril Lavigne, Imagine Dragons, Twenty One Pilots, Machine Gun Kelly and Panic! at the Disco.
Aaaand the moonperson for Best Alternative Video goes to @thisismaneskin for "I Wanna Be Your Slave" ? #VMAs pic.twitter.com/EbQC487HBc
— Video Music Awards (@vmas) August 29, 2022
As fans already know, a lot happens in that music video, which sees Victoria De Angelis step into the frame wearing lingerie, before she leans forward and spits on her kneeling bandmate Ethan Torchio. Perhaps nodding to the song’s title, Ethan looks more expectant than shocked as Victoria’s warm saliva drips down his cheek.
That devil-may-care attitude was on full show at the 2022 VMAs, with Damino performing in assless chaps and Victoria covering her breasts with little more than silver discs at one point.
Apparently MTV was feeling prudish and the cameras frequently cut away, leaving fans furious.
One user said: “I can’t believe MTV censored Måneskin. WTF they had people twerking all night, a giant twerking animation, people fake smoking a giant blunt but a man with his ass out is censured??”
Another demanded that MTV issue an apology.
#maneskin deserved an apology from #mtv for censoring their #vma performance. From the little I saw, it was the best performance of the night.
— Good Eye Press (@goodeyepress) August 29, 2022
It seems that the camerawork may have come down partly to this wardrobe malfunction, in which Vic’s breast was fully exposed.
OK – Victoria was the cause, not Damiano ,unfortunately it happens, BUT #VMAs should have not framed her simply … "SHOW MUST GO ON" – and don't censor it completely , ruining their performance!
— ? Andrea Leone ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? (@lion8646053428) August 29, 2022
Fuck off MTV !!!!!! #Maneskin pic.twitter.com/nkLB9bHvbC
In any case, the band still made the most of their moment, performing at one of the most-watched musical events in the world.
Other A-listers who got to perform included Snoop Dogg, Eninem, Jack Harlow and Nicki Minaj.
The uncensored version is now floating around and Vic wasn’t shying away from the cameras.
They did it consciously so whatever, however still waiting for the esc winning song 2021 to be performed on the esc stage 2022, it’s cool (or not) to want to provoke and to want to appear out of the box but sometimes it’s too much and it becomes ridiculous and misplaced….like when you trample and break some good traditions like performing the winning song in Eurovision the following year on your home soil.
If I’m not mistaken they had to leave for the Billboard Music Awards that same weekend so they were at a time crunch to get to their booked gigs on time.
Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Meghan Thee Stallion have lowkey soft p0rn performances on MTV and other awards that pass cencorship with no problem!
Victoria should have just covered her t*ts with some machine guns to make it suitable for Nickelodeon, I guess.
Their management knew if Victoria showed her breasts, it would put Maneskin’s name into the mouths of Americans.
They recently went viral online a few months ago when Victoria showed her breasts at a festival, so why not do it again on a much bigger scale? They’re playing the game, and doing it very well.
im pretty sure that most children have seen nipples by now. calm down america
The xenophobia is rife in this comment section
So we’re gonna pretend like they wouldn’t have been censored by every broadcaster in the EBU if that happened during a live performance. There are broadcasting standards in the US that have to be followed. They can’t just ignore them because the fandom and Maneskin stans want them too. That is not how things work.
One of the most socially liberal countries, Sweden, even has certain broadcast standards around nudity/pornography and I quote “Programmes with detailed and realistic depictions of violence or pornographic images must carry a warning. Such programs must not be broadcast or made available at such a time and in such a way as to present a significant risk of being viewed by children, unless justified by specific reasons.” The key part “risk of being viewed by children.” Public broadcasts like the VMAs are easily viewed by children and a situation like this would have probably been censored in Sweden as well.… Read more »
Explain to me how Victoria playing the guitar could be classed as that.
You know why. Stop being willfully ignorant. Women’s breasts are considered taboo. Nudity is not allowed in the US. That is why in sitcoms you never actually see anything during the spicier scenes. It really isn’t that hard to understand. Again I don’t find the slip offensive. But that isn’t how the world works. Be honest would this have been censored in your country? I’m almost positive it would have.
If it was live, I doubt there would have been the same immediate panic to cut away. Anyway, my complaining has never been about America or MTV. If you want me to blame the whole world, then fine, I will.
This is like the crashing of two stupidities. Something rare. But physics nonetheless: two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time. And this is precisely what happened here: we have a stage, Manneskin singing suddenly the woman shows her tits and then, stupidity number 1 – the MTV gets crazy, we have to cover It, do something, the world ends if we show a tit in the background that no one Will see… They cover It and then stupidity number 2 appears and people react: ooo this is si bad, women cannot show their melons because of… Read more »
While the conversation around women’s nipples and whatnot is valid cutting off the broadcast was quite literally the only decision they had. You can not have nudity like that during a live and widely distributed broadcast like the VMAs. There are certain standards that broadcasters must meet to be able to… well… broadcast. They can’t just flaunt the rules just because. Any broadcaster in the EBU would have done the same thing.
The country that has given us some of the goriest and bloodiest scenes thanks to their movies and tv shows ( “Game of Thrones” is a good example of this), gets easily scandalized because of a girl’s nipple. I can smell the hypocrisy.
Clearly, you don’t know the broadcasting rules in the US. HBO is a premium service. You have to pay to watch their content. You can’t just flip on the tv and watch Game of Thrones without getting a subscription. Public broadcasters can’t show certain things. Because they are broadcasting to everyone… including children. You don’t have to pay for MTV like you do HBO. It isn’t hypocrisy. You’re just ignorant to how things work.
CBS actually even censored Jeff Bezos’ d*ck rocket.
Massive congrats for the VMA win to Måneskin not that long ago they won their EMA. Onwards and upwards and cannot wait to see what they get upto in the future. On the “incident”, I personally did not find it offensive in anyway at all, Damiano’s outfit and gesture could of been precieved as offensive or vulgar to the eyes of the “special snowflake American public” but Damino looked fine af, Victoria looked amazing and so strong, like a badass rocker chic, Thomas and Ethan did their thing and like always looked immaculate. In summary, it’s 2022, not 1922 keep… Read more »
Irony being in 1922 there were a huge number of clubs in Europe and the US where that’d be cool. Even 1932.
The prudes took over mid 1930s
I’ve heard i wanna be your slave and supermodel on the radio too over here in the US. Not just beggin. Americans are getting to know who they are, you just gotta look towards the younger generations
Their music is gold. Their image on the other hand, is getting out of control.
I find comments like this amusing when five years ago Damiano was singing on a stripper pole and baring his butt on X Factor Italy. Nipples covered, though, don’t worry.
I’m happy for their success, and it’s good for the contest to show that a winner can go on the crack big markets internationally and feature on shows like this. Looks like they are really focused on America right now, and sure, strike while the iron is hot. But I’ve heard their management had cancelled a few UK appearances to prioritise the US, not playing at UK festivals and annoying their fans here. Hope they can make up for this sometime
I have no idea why you are gettting downvoted.
Who honestly gives a rat’s behind… Måneskin are literally the embodiment of a confused, cliched pastiche of a rockband from the 1970s. A magnesium flare of their time – they were used as a disgruntled outlet of 2020s Europe post-pandemic, to lash out, go wild, break down the inhinbitions and strive for, at whatever cost; some semblance of non-synthetic normality, and they did it beautifully. The greatest flash-in-the-pan victory Europe desperately wanted at the time. Not now. Stop trying to outlive the tired pseudo-risqué rock and roll martadom, Måneskin. It died long ago. Enjoy your finite success and move on… Read more »
Too much analysis for nothing. They’re just four talented kids making what they like, dressing as they want. The scandal is in your eyes.
Nonsense, they’re four talented kids who decided to base their identity on iconic relics of the past, subsequently achieved success with their music and expect the enduring legacies of the rock n’ roll bands they indirectly imitate to deliever for them… times have changed. These guys were great in 2020. Time to evolve, Måneskin – cause it’s alllll been done before.
Everything has happened in the past. I imagine the same arteriosclerotic things were said about the rock legends of their time. There is no such thing as parthenogenesis, Accept it. Among others, it is a wonderful opportunity for the new generation to approach the brilliance of the old rockets.
You’re debating with an stubborn, anonymous person on the internet. You’re not going to change any opinions here, pal. I welcome your cogent responses – all healthy input; but I will always see them as a group of youngsters who bring zero originality to the table. Skin-tight outfits, mascara all round, average rock tunes, predictable glam-rock stage presence. Nothing remotely close to pushing the boundaries of creativity. Hugely overrated.
I’m not trying to convince anyone. I’m just presenting the other side of the moon for whoever wants to see it. I don’t know what would be really creative in a world that has watched everything. However thanks for finding the dialogue compelling.
That you think their pointed display of nudity that revealed the hypocrisy of those censoring it was done for “cheap scandal” suggests you’ve understood nothing about the performance nor about them. Who cares that it’s been done before? We still need it now. Being first is only important to an ego. Better that they are not last.
you should go out more and meet more people
keep in mind the vmas are produced in the usa, the same country where janet jackson’s career nosedived after a nip slip on live tv. no idea why they’re so uncomfortable with nudity. anyway, congrats to måneskin for the award and great performance!
Because it creates a huge liability for the broadcasters…
Lol, and the Macedonian broadcaster almost pulled out of Eurovision because their representative tossed their flag. There are certain rules that public broadcasters in the US must follow. They can’t just ignore them. Nudity in almost all cases isn’t allowed.
The Superbowl is aired on terrestrial TV, MTV is on basic cable. The level of post-watershed content that can be shown including nudity, vulgar language, profanity and other mild/strong scenes varies on how accessible content are. Any complaints of showing them at an unallowable hour would likely force them to answer to the US Federal Communications Commission.
It’s just how it is hence why all the kiddie channels on YouTube no longer have comment section.
You could play “no one I know has heard of…” with a lot of people. No one in my circle listens to Harry Styles. I’ve never heard a song of his on the radio. But I recognize that my little world isn’t representative of much. Same thing here.
Popularity, star quality, and a team with good contacts.
Stupid. It makes zero sense that there should be any problem in Victoria showing a nipple but not Damiano or any other man.
hate to break it to ya but the states are ran by old prudes who push their mindset onto the general public and what gets presented to us
Lol so you’re telling me that the broadcaster in your country wouldn’t have done the same thing?
While the conversation around “freeing the nipple” is valid. There are rules broadcasters must follow. You can gripe all you want. It quite literally doesn’t matter.
It’s the rules that I’m complaining about. Rules can be changed. What do you not understand about that?
Are you serious? Do you know something about Spotify? Tik tok? They’re Mega Stars with plenty of platinum cds and sold out gigs even in Japan. Oh, and you are jealous.
I really liked maneskin with their Italian albums before esc. But now they are quite annoying :/
Absolutely desperate for attention – pure sellouts.
Maybe they wouldn’t have censored it if they weren’t broadcasting in the US across like 10+ channels. Including the CW which is available as part of basic cable packages.
Children go to the beach. They see nipples all the time, life would still go on if they saw a flash of Victoria’s.
MTV had to meet broadcast standards especially as they are being shown live all around the world. Even the cussing are censored out in three-second delays as heard on the Nicki Minaj performance whenever she feels like not singing the radio edit versions of her songs.
Broadcasting rules need to be changed then. There’s no reason for this, except to cater to narrow-minded ignorance.
All programs shown in the United States are given a content rating by the FCC. If in any way they show anything that’s not within the bounds of that rating, they are subject to an FCC complaint which they have to answer to. If the VMA is given a TV PG rating then they certainly cannot show any female nipples, genitalia, etc.
And it’s live TV so things happen and decisions have to be made on the fly to avoid getting the crosshairs of the FCC, as much as people see this as extremely outdated.
Why are men’s nipples allowed? Do the rules specifically state that only women’s nipples are banned?
Beats me. They don’t show butts and penises as well unless they all get gaussian blurred or get stamped by a black stripe.
My man gets downvoted for just stating facts. He isn’t saying whether it’s right or wrong. Just the reality of things. But Europeans just can’t pass up a chance to be xenophobic.
A xenophobic comment complaining about xenophobia, okay…
What about my comment was xenophobic? You’re comment basically reads the same as “it’s racist for you to call me racist.”
You just insulted a whole continent of people. We’re all xenophobic, are we?
Rules are rules. Regardless of how you feel about it. Broadcasters could face lawsuits amongst many other punishments if they just flaunt the rules like you want them to. FYI I find female nipples inoffensive. But my opinion matters little in these circumstances.
After the Janet Jackson nipplegate they should have known that….mmm wait, they knew…
They are also outraged that Damiano shown his bat. While half of the female singers were more explicit than him.
#EqualTreatment
Did you read the article?