Protests - Part 48

 MTV Europe 2003

The MTV Europe Music awards were created as an alternative to the MTV Video Music Awards in the U.S.  In 2003, the show was held in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Above, Scottish band Travis plays their song The Beautiful Occupation.

While they were playing, a group of nude protesters walked onto the stage.

The band played on.  What were they protesting?  Most of their signs said generic things like "Stop" or "Protest."  Stop what?  Protest what?

OK, this guy was protesting war.

And the girl on the end was protesting guns.

Here's a video of the whole protest (which lasted less than a minute).  When the band ended their song, the protesters all lifted their signs, exposing their nudity.  The crowd applauded the song, or the nudity, or both.  Given the fact that there were no security guards interfering, and given the generic nature of the protest signs (I mean, really, who protests by carrying a sign that says "Protest"?), I suspect the whole thing was choreographed as part of the MTV show.

That wasn't the only nudity at the event.  Christina Aguilera, who hosted the show, had a bunch of young men come out dressed only in kilts, then lift up the front of their kilts for her inspection (above).  Were they wearing anything under the kilts?  No, they followed Scottish tradition and went commando, as evidenced by two of them who also lifted up the back of their kilts.