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Taylor Swift Wins Big at MTV Video Music Awards, Ties Beyoncé’s Record

US singer Taylor Swift accepts the Video of the Year award for "Fortnight" on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
US singer Taylor Swift accepts the Video of the Year award for "Fortnight" on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
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Taylor Swift Wins Big at MTV Video Music Awards, Ties Beyoncé’s Record

US singer Taylor Swift accepts the Video of the Year award for "Fortnight" on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
US singer Taylor Swift accepts the Video of the Year award for "Fortnight" on stage during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Taylor Swift 's dominance continued at the MTV Video Music Awards, where she took home seven awards — including the night's biggest, the trophy for video of the year.
In her speech Wednesday night, Swift thanked her “boyfriend, Travis” for being on set of the “Fortnight” music video and cheering her on. Fans rewarded the mention of NFL star Travis Kelce with loud screams.
"Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic,” she said, before shifting gears to the 2024 presidential election and instructing her fans who are over 18 to register to vote.
Swift did, however, avoid discussing Kamala Harris’ presidential bid on stage. On Tuesday night, Swift endorsed the vice president, moments after Harris’ debate with former president Donald Trump ended.
Swift's awards haul brings her to a career total of 30, tying her and Beyoncé for the title of most-awarded musician in VMA history, The Associated Press reported. Eminem is now the male artist with the most VMAs, at 14.
Swift and Post Malone also took home the first televised award of the VMAs for best collaboration, for “Fortnight,” handed to them by Flavor Flav and Olympian Jordan Chiles.
Swift started that speech by giving remembrance to everyone who lost their lives and loved ones during 9/11, 23 years ago.
“I’ve just been thinking about what happened 23 years ago, everyone who lost a loved one and everyone that we lost and that is the most important thing about today," she said. “And everything that happens tonight falls behind that.”
The other voice of 2024 pop, Sabrina Carpenter, won the trophy for song of the year for “Espresso.”
Katy Perry received the Video Vanguard Award, performing an eight-song medley spanning her career: “Roar,” “E.T.,” “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “I Kissed a Girl,” “Firework,” and "Lifetimes."
Previous recipients of the Video Vanguard Award include Shakira, Beyoncé, Minaj, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna and Missy Elliott.

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‘Piano Lesson’ Premiere in Toronto a Family Affair for Denzel 

(L-R) Producer Denzel Washington, Pauletta Washington, executive producer Kate Washington, actress Danielle Deadwyler, director Malcolm Washington and actor John David Washington attend the international premiere of "The Piano Lesson" at the Princess of Wales theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 2024. (AFP)
(L-R) Producer Denzel Washington, Pauletta Washington, executive producer Kate Washington, actress Danielle Deadwyler, director Malcolm Washington and actor John David Washington attend the international premiere of "The Piano Lesson" at the Princess of Wales theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 2024. (AFP)
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‘Piano Lesson’ Premiere in Toronto a Family Affair for Denzel 

(L-R) Producer Denzel Washington, Pauletta Washington, executive producer Kate Washington, actress Danielle Deadwyler, director Malcolm Washington and actor John David Washington attend the international premiere of "The Piano Lesson" at the Princess of Wales theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 2024. (AFP)
(L-R) Producer Denzel Washington, Pauletta Washington, executive producer Kate Washington, actress Danielle Deadwyler, director Malcolm Washington and actor John David Washington attend the international premiere of "The Piano Lesson" at the Princess of Wales theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 2024. (AFP)

Denzel Washington and his family celebrated the screening in Toronto of Oscar hopeful "The Piano Lesson," the latest Hollywood adaptation of an August Wilson play in which the entire clan was involved.

Washington's son Malcolm makes his feature directorial debut and elder son John David stars in the movie, which tells the story of a family struggling to make peace with its past and confront the legacy of slavery.

Washington himself is a producer of the film, wife Pauletta and daughter Olivia have small roles, and daughter Katia is an executive producer.

"I'm happy, a proud father," Washington said in a Q&A session after the screening.

For 33-year-old Malcolm, who received a warm ovation at the film's conclusion, "this was such a beautiful time for us all to come together, but it became something much bigger than our own family."

"This is a story of ancestry, of lineage, and dealing with the August Wilson canon at all, you're tying yourself into a much larger lineage there."

"The Piano Lesson," written in 1987 and set in the 1930s, is part of Wilson's so-called "Pittsburgh Cycle," a series of 10 plays that aimed to explore the African American experience in the 20th century.

It debuted at the Telluride festival in Colorado before making its way over the border for a splashy international premiere in Canada's largest city. The film will stream on Netflix on November 22.

At the center of the story is an heirloom piano, hand-carved with images of their ancestors and imbued with the family's difficult history.

John David Washington, 40, plays Boy Willie, who wants to sell the instrument to buy land and get ahead, while sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) insists that they keep it.

The two actors turn in electrifying performances as they duel over the fate of the piano, while confronting issues of race, spirituality and acceptance of the past.

Deadwyler, who many believe was snubbed for an Oscar nomination for her performance in "Till" (2022), is on nearly every expert's shortlist for a best supporting actress nod this time around, according to awards prediction site Gold Derby.

The film is adapted specifically from a recent Broadway revival of Wilson's play, and retains much of the same cast, including Samuel L. Jackson as the de facto patriarch.

Denzel Washington is no stranger to Wilson's work; this is the third of his plays that he has helped bring to the big screen.

The Oscar winner directed and starred in "Fences" (2016), for which Viola Davis won an Academy Award, and then produced "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," which took home two golden statuettes.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs through Sunday.