Taylor Swift calls for Equality Act signatures during MTV VMAs speech

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Taylor Swift called for people to sign the Equality Act petition as she won the top honour at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards on Monday (26.08.19).

The 29-year-old singer walked away with the prize for Video of the Year for her hit single 'You Need to Calm Down' during the annual awards ceremony at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey, and used her acceptance speech to thank those who had already signed the petition - which says every human deserves equal rights by law - as well as urging others who hadn't to put their signature on the bill.

Speaking on stage at the event, Taylor said: "I just want to say that this is a fan-voted award. So, I first want to say thank you to the fans because in this video, several points were made, so you voting for this video means that you want a world where we're all treated equally.

"Regardless of who we are, regardless of how we identify, at the end of this video there was a petition - and there still is a petition for the Equality Act, which basically just says we all deserve equal rights under the law.

"And, I want to thank everyone who signed that petition because it now has half-a-million signatures, which is five times the amount that it would need to warrant a response from the White House."

The 'ME!' hitmaker was one of the biggest winners at the ceremony, as she also bagged the gongs for Video for Good - which was also awarded for 'You Need to Calm Down' - and 'ME!', her collaboration with Brendon Urie, won Best Visual Effects.

Billie Eilish also took home three awards, winning Best New Artist, Push Artist of the Year, and Best Editing for 'bad guy', whilst Ariana Grande was the only other artist to bag three gongs, as she won Artist of the Year, Song of Summer for her collaboration with Social House on 'Boyfriend', and Best Art Direction for '7 Rings'.

Several artists won two awards each, including Lil Nas X - whose remix of 'Old Town Road' with Billie Ray Cyrus won him Song of the Year and Best Direction - Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, who teamed up for 'Señorita' which won them Best Collaboration and Best Cinematography, and K-Pop group BTS who were crowned the winners in the Best Group category, as well as winning Best K-Pop for 'Boy With Luv', their collaboration with Halsey.

2019 MTV Video Music Awards winners:

Video Vanguard

Missy Elliot

Video of the Year

Taylor Swift - 'You Need to Calm Down'

Artist of the Year

Ariana Grande

Song of the Year

Lil Nas X - 'Old Town Road (Remix)' ft. Billy Ray Cyrus

Best New Artist

Billie Eilish

Best Collaboration

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello - 'Señorita'

Push Artist of the Year

Billie Eilish

Best Pop

Jonas Brothers - 'Sucker'

Best Hip-Hop

Cardi B - 'Money'

Best R&B

Normani - 'Waves' ft. 6LACK

Best K-Pop

BTS - 'Boy With Luv' ft. Halsey

Best Latin

ROSALÍA and J Balvin - 'Con Altura' ft. El Guincho

Best Dance

The Chainsmokers - 'Call You Mine' ft. Bebe Rexha

Best Rock

Panic! At the Disco - 'High Hopes'

Video for Good

Taylor Swift - 'You Need to Calm Down'

Best Group

BTS

Best Power Anthem

Megan Thee Stallion - 'Hot Girl Summer' ft. Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign

Song of Summer

Ariana Grande and Social House - 'Boyfriend'

Fashion Trailblazer

Marc Jacobs

Best Direction

Lil Nas X - 'Old Town Road (Remix)' ft. Billy Ray Cyrus

Best Visual Effects

Taylor Swift - 'ME!' ft. Brendon Urie

Best Editing

Billie Eilish - 'bad guy'

Best Art Direction

Ariana Grande - '7 Rings'

Best Choreography

ROSALÍA and J Balvin - 'Con Altura' ft. El Guincho

Best Cinematography

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello - 'Señorita'