MTV is looking to make a political statement at the 2017 Video Music Awards.
The network has made a request with the Department of Defense to invite active duty transgender military members to the ceremony this Sunday, a Pentagon official confirmed.
“DoD confirms that MTV has invited Service members in their personal capacity to this year’s VMAs,” Pentagon Spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Haverstick told Variety in a statement. “At the request of the Services, DoD is reviewing the parameters of the individual invitations.”
Representatives for MTV have not yet responded to a request for comment.
The move is likely in response to President Donald Trump‘s tweets in July, in which he said transgender individuals would be banned from the military. Trump’s tweets provoked massive backlash as well as confusion, as POTUS did not reveal a detailed plan for the transgender ban, as well as how to handle the 15,000 transgender individuals who are already serving in the military. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Trump would be laying out the plan, more than a month after his announcement, in the coming days.
It would be far from the first time a political statement was made at the VMAs. Last year, Beyonce hit the red carpet of the awards ceremony with four women who lost their sons as a result of police actions, members of a group known as Mothers of the Movement. Similarly, in 2010, Lady Gaga arrived at the VMAs with four soldiers who were either discharged or asked to leave the military over the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.
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The Video Music Awards, hosted by Katy Perry, will take place Sunday at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
