Kanye West for president to Justin Bieber crying: The weirdest things that happened at 2015 MTV VMAs

Taylor Swift won video of the year, Miley Cyrus briefly flashed one of her breasts and Kanye West ranted at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards and even claimed he’d be running for President.

The VMAs are as much about the performances as the memorable moments. Here are some from the 2015 event:

Kanye for President

Kanye West received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award for his memorable music videos and live performances over the years, but it was his penchant for unscripted speeches that added to the anticipation.

During a rambling speech , he said he got high before getting on stage, sort of apologized to Taylor Swift for interrupting her acceptance speech in 2009, explained how his daughter North West has changed him, ranted against MTV and announced that he planned to run for president in 2020.

Kanye at the VMA’s be like: pic.twitter.com/t8gLgHaV9j

— ELADIO THE THIRD (@eladiocarry_on) August 31, 2015

“This arena tomorrow is gonna be a completely different setup, this stage will be gone. After that night, the stage was gone, but the affect that it had on people remained,” West said about running on the stage during Swift’s speech at the 2009 VMAs.

“The problem was the contradiction. The contradiction is I do fight for artists, but in that fight I somehow was disrespectful to artists. I didn’t know how to say the right thing, the perfect thing.”

Ummmm, OK.

Kanye West had the BEST time in the audience at the #VMAs: http://t.co/A88AtjSkPy http://t.co/1jfYHyXOS8

— Mashable (@mashable) August 31, 2015

The Minajathon

Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj exchanged tense tweets prior to the Sunday night’s awards,

but they teamed up for a showing-opening duet that ended with a hug. The genuine moment at the top of the show drove home the point that female friends were worth more than any trophy.

Taylor, thank you for being epic. ❤️

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) August 31, 2015

But Nicki and Miley Cyrus aren’t done yet.

After winning best hip-hop video for “Anaconda,” Minaj called out this year’s host for criticizing her in a recent New York Times interview. Cyrus retorted that she lost a VMA in 2008 and she persevered.

After collecting the award on Sunday, Minaj told the audience: “And now back to this b—- that had a lot to say about me a lot in the press. Miley, what’s good?”

The only thing we knew for sure when the moment ended: Minaj also wins this year’s award for throwing shade.

Miley’s Fashion Moments

For all the hype leading up to Cyrus’ hosting gig, the foul-mouthed, nearly always close-to-naked singer did not disappoint those expecting her to both shock and amuse. Her wildly colourful outfits throughout the show ranged from see-through to barely covering her body.

She even took it a step further and flashed her nipple during a costume change.

As the camera panned backstage, Cyrus failed to cover up and the broadcast quickly cut away to the crowd while she continued to talk. She then said, “What’s happening? Oh, sorry.”

Here's that Miley Cyrus nip slip from the 2015 VMAs: http://t.co/IMucpEM9El pic.twitter.com/AtRwex53Zc

— Mashable (@mashable) August 31, 2015

Throughout the show, she made references to drugs and sang about smoking marijuana during the final performance of the show.

Nothing new there.

Bieber Break Down

Justin Bieber returned to the VMA stage with a high-flying performance of his new single, “What Do You Mean?”

In a voiceover, the young singer talked about his journey and came swinging out of the rafters. After the performance, Bieber was overcome by emotion and fan reactions. And this happened:

With inputs from AP.