It may be the global hit of 2017 but it seems that Despacito’s immense popularity wasn’t enough for the song’s official video to be included among the nominees for this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
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The nominations for the 2017 VMAs were revealed last month, with Kendrick Lamar leading the way with eight nods in total – seven of which are for the stunning video for his single HUMBLE.
However, the official music video for Despacito – the smash single by Puerto Rican artist Luis Fonsi which features Daddy Yankee (and, occasionally, Justin Bieber) – has managed to miss out on receiving even a single VMA nomination, despite its current status as the most-viewed YouTube clip of all time.
Despacito’s glaring omission from the list of nominations has now been clarified by MTV, who confirmed in a statement yesterday that the video ‘wasn’t submitted for consideration.’
It seems odd that the video hadn’t been put forward – especially given that it has been viewed a staggering 3.2 billion views on YouTube alone.
The video for Despacito has not aired on MTV or MTV2, but has been a regular fixture on MTV Tres, the network’s Latin channel.
Universal Music Latin Entertainment, which released Despacito, didn’t elaborate on why they opted not to submit the video for consideration, but they said that they ‘would welcome MTV’s decision to recognise Spanish-language videos on its main channel and the Music Video Awards program’.
Despacito missed out on MTV VMAs nomination as it 'wasn't submitted for consideration'
Luis Fonsi says he’s not bothered about the snub, mind (Picture: YouTube/LuisFonsiVEVO)
Speaking to AP, Fonsi claimed that he wasn’t losing sleep over his VMAs omission.
‘Awards are very important but what bigger award [is there] than having the most watched video in the world in history? It doesn’t really get any bigger than that,’ he said. ‘Hopefully it’ll win some awards down the line, down the road, but I think I got the biggest one so far, straight from the people.’
All is not lost for Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, though – Despacito will be included in the VMAs’ ‘song of the summer’ category.
Despacito missed out on MTV VMAs nomination as it 'wasn't submitted for consideration'
Despacito, despacito (Picture: YouTube/LuisFonsiVEVO)
The 2017 MTV VMAs will take place on August 27 in Inglewood, California, and will be hosted by Katy Perry.