Setting, The 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, Pauley Pavilion, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, September 9, 1992.
Host Dana Carvey introduces fellow comedians/actors David Spade and Denis Leary to present the Best Female Video Award. They list the nominees:
Spade opens the envelope and they proclaim, "And the winner is...MARIAH CAREY, 'EMOTIONS'!"
An elated Mariah runs to the stage and grabs the Moonman.
Mariah thanks her fans, her family, her record company, her management, everyone who worked on her album and videos, and, to everyone's surprise, pulls off her dress, leaving her in her bra and panties.
Later on the show, supermodel Cindy Crawford comes out to present the Best Editing in a Video Award. She lists the nominees:
Cindy opens the envelope and proclaims, "And the winner is...ROCHELL FORD, for MARIAH CAREY'S 'EMOTIONS'!"
Mariah runs up again, thanks everyone again, and...TAKES OFF HER BRA!, leaving her topless on camera. The censors are panicking but they know that the votes have been tallied and the envelopes have been sealed and that MTV can't change who wins now.
Later on the show, David Lee Roth comes out to present the Best Direction in a Video Award. He lists the nominees:
Diamond Dave opens the envelope and proclaims, "And the winner is...JEFF PREISS, for MARIAH CAREY'S 'EMOTIONS'!"
Mariah, still topless, runs on stage, thanks everyone a third time, and, yep, PULLS DOWN HER PANTIES, leaving her naked on live TV.
(Oh, and Nirvana wins "Video of the Year" for "Smells Like Teen Spirit.")
_________________________________________________________________________________This is an idea I have had for nearly 30 YEARS. R.E.M. were the big winners at the 1991 VMAs (10 nominations, 6 wins, including "Video of the Year" for "Losing My Religion.") Michael Stipe wore a shirt with some political slogan on it and removed it to reveal a shirt with a different political slogan underneath every time they accepted an award. I'd thought that Mariah Carey or Janet Jackson should have imitated that. Not the part about wearing shirts with different political slogans, just the part about removing an article of clothing every time each one accepted an award. Unfortunately, the only time after 1991 that Janet dominated at the VMAs was 1995, when she and Michael won five awards for "Scream," so it would have been particularly inappropriate that night for her to strip. Mariah has won MTV Awards in Europe and Japan but never in the U.S. for some reason. This is also a rip on how, at the actual 1992 VMAS, Fake Van Halen won Video of the Year for "Right Now." I had held back on writing this story for some time, because I was afraid that Mariah stripping would overshadow everything else (and, as you could tell, it did.) However, I had been struggling for ideas for International Fanworks Day 2021, and suddenly remembered this story and decided, "What the hell, why not?" I was going to call it "Mariah Gives Her All," based on her song "My All," but I found that that song was released in 1997, so I checked and found that "Make It Happen" was on the Emotions album, so I used that.