You can go home again, at least part-time, as former MTV Networks head Van Toffler proved when he came back in 2025 as the producer of the MTV Video Music Awards. He’s back in the saddle for a second year in 2026, as the two-hour telecast enjoys its second year in a row with a prime-time spot on CBS. He and the show are are already generating much greater buzz in this reprise, between Snoop Dogg hosting, the return of Madonna after a 23-year absence, Taylor Swift premiering a new music video, star-studded tributes to Dolly Parton and George Michael, a Nirvana lifetime honor and worthy young performers like Lisa, Raye and Sienna Spiro.
But speaking of home, are the VMAs’ home where the heart is? The show is being broadcast from L.A.’s Peacock Theater this year — the first time the show has emanated from the west coast since 2017, when it was aired from the Forum. It was his call to bring it back from New York and New Jersey, in part because he felt the downtown L.A. location was more convenient for a lot of talent, but also because of the old friend he’s employing as host.
Toffler, whose regular job is now as CEO of the production company Gunpowder & Sky, talked with Variety in the run-up to the show. This is your second year back in the driver’s seat of the VMAs. With no slight intended toward last year, it feels like this has got a lot more heat on it.
I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. This show feels like it’s got a bit of everything: old, young, all genres and from Snoop to Madonna to Lisa and Raye and Sienna Spiro to Nirvana getting the Video Vanguard Award and a tribute to George Michael. I actually want to watch this year, which is saying a lot for me and awards shows.
Are you based in L.A. or New York? … L.A.? So you’ll be done by 6:30! WIth Madonna opening the show, it’s hard to believe it’s been 23 years since she was on the show.
And she’s synonymous with the VMAs, but it must just be synonymous for those of us with long memories, if it’s been almost a quarter-century since she did it last. Well, look, we can deny it as much as we want, but Madonna is the M in MTV. I knew it the day I started there.
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