2026 VMAs memes had an unfair amount of material to work with. I turned on an awards show and within one evening got football holding pop music hostage, Madonna summoning celebrities like she had unlocked every fighter in Smash Bros., Seth Rogen wandering into her performance smoking a joint, Yung Lean attacking a camera with ice cream, and a Dunkin’ commercial developing enough lore to require its own wiki. Awards were also distributed somewhere in there.
The ceremony happened Sunday, September 27, at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, with Snoop Dogg hosting. Madonna led the actual winners with seven trophies, while Taylor Swift won Video of the Year for “The Fate of Ophelia” and Best Direction for “Opalite.” CBS has the full official winners list. CBS’s official 2026 VMAs winners list
Before any of that could air, however, America needed to finish football.
The 2026 VMAs Memes Began Before The VMAs Did
The awards were scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys had other plans.
Because CBS was still airing the game, television viewers waited roughly 20 extra minutes while the actual ceremony proceeded in Los Angeles.
Few social experiments are more dangerous than telling pop fans that an NFL game is standing between them and Madonna.
For 20 minutes, two enormous American subcultures were forced to acknowledge each other’s existence.
Nobody enjoyed the exchange.
Madonna Apparently Had An Unlimited Cameo Budget
Once the broadcast finally arrived, Madonna responded by attempting to use every celebrity remaining in Southern California.
Her first VMAs performance since 2003 began with Sabrina Carpenter joining her for “Bring Your Love,” followed by Charli XCX for “Danceteria Afterhours.”
Then the guest list stopped behaving normally.
Julia Garner appeared.
Debi Mazar appeared.
Sombr appeared.
Seth Rogen appeared in leather, smoking a joint.
Pitchfork’s performance recap confirms that this was all part of the same opening number and not five separate award shows being accidentally broadcast on top of each other.
Sabrina’s expression throughout portions of the night had the relatable quality of someone invited to a nice dinner who slowly realizes the restaurant is also hosting Cirque du Soleil.
Why it matters: awards-show memes thrive when celebrities appear in combinations that would look fake if you typed them into a group chat beforehand. “Madonna, Charli XCX, Julia Garner and Seth Rogen” sounds like four clues from different rounds of Jeopardy.
Madonna Apparently Had To DM Sabrina Herself
The collaboration got even funnier later.
While accepting Best Collaboration with Carpenter, Madonna explained that she waited five days without being connected to Sabrina or hearing whether she wanted to make a song.
So Madonna DM’d her.
Carpenter answered, and the two were apparently in the studio within weeks.
Imagine being Sabrina Carpenter and opening Instagram to discover Madonna has bypassed several layers of music-industry bureaucracy because nobody replied quickly enough.
That isn’t networking.
That’s the final boss sending you a friend request.
Meanwhile, The Cameramen Were Doing Cirque Du Soleil
The broadcast itself occasionally looked more physically demanding than the performances.
One viral shot showed a camera operator suspended upside down over Madonna and Carpenter to capture the performance.
I understand wanting an interesting angle.
At some point, though, the angle becomes “OSHA investigation.”
Snoop Dogg Established The Intellectual Tone Early
Snoop hosted.
Snoop made a “deez nuts” joke.
Some institutions preserve tradition through ceremonial robes and Latin phrases.
MTV has Snoop Dogg telling a joke that would get a seventh grader sent into the hallway.
Culture survives.
Dunkin’ Somehow Became A Recurring Character
Then there was the sponsored-content cinematic universe.
Rachel Dratch played “Pumpkin Spice,” the fictional forgotten sixth member of a girl group, across two Dunkin’ segments woven directly into the broadcast. Dunkin’ itself describes the bits as a two-part VMAs sketch continuing its current fall campaign. Dunkin’s official VMAs campaign explainer
Viewers were less diplomatic.
There is advertising during a show.
There is product placement during a show.
And then there is reaching the point where the pumpkin latte has character motivation.
Yung Lean Closed His Performance Like A Man Who Hates Camera Equipment
The night still wasn’t finished producing screenshots.
Yung Lean recreated the choreography from his “Storm” video for his first U.S. television performance, surrounded by identically dressed dancers while remaining relatively still at the center.
Then he ended by spitting ice cream directly toward the camera. Hypebeast’s Yung Lean performance recap
Finally, some choreography I can realistically attempt at home.
Even The Side Quests Became Memes
Debi Mazar’s appearance prompted the traditional internet ceremony of discovering someone’s age and demanding documentation.
Taylor Swift’s directing honors and wins produced their own arguments.
And by the end of the ceremony, Reddit had reached the customary awards-show phase where everybody asks whether the VMAs are dying while simultaneously posting about them for six consecutive hours.
That may be the strongest evidence the VMAs are functioning exactly as intended.
Nobody watches an awards show merely to learn who won anymore. We watch because at any moment Seth Rogen might materialize beside Madonna, an NFL game might annex the first 20 minutes, or Yung Lean might spit dessert directly into a television camera.
The Moon Person trophies are nice.
The screenshots report for duty Monday morning.
For more Thunder Dungeon awards-show damage, enjoy 2026 Oscars Memes That Became Better Than The Speeches, Emmys Memes From Moments Nobody Could Take Back, and Music Memes That Clearly Needed More Rehearsal.
Alex Thompson writes about internet culture like it’s a competitive sport and believes “Seth Rogen unexpectedly appears smoking” should be an available square on every awards-show bingo card.
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Alex Thompson has been chronicling internet culture and meme phenomena for nearly seven years. Starting at CollegeHumor and later becoming lead meme editor at Mashable, Alex has covered everything from vintage internet memes like Rickrolling to recent viral events such as Corn Kid and Grimace Shake. With a keen eye for what connects and entertains digital audiences, Alex writes with humor, relatability, and deep knowledge of online culture. At Thunder Dungeon, Alex is the go-to source for meme analysis, viral breakdowns, and internet nostalgia.
