Kanye West announces plans to run for US President in 2020

Among the many highlights of last night’s MTV Video Music Awards held in Los Angeles, Kanye West announced that he plans to run for president in 2020.

His comments came after he was presented with the award show’s highest honour by Taylor Swift, who won four of the nine awards she was nominated for at the annual ceremony, including video of the year for Bad Blood, which features a host of other celebrities.

West accepted the Video Vanguard Award with a 10-minute speech where he discussed grocery stores, baseball stadiums and awards shows and made his political ambitions clear. After admitting he had "rolled up a little something" to calm his nerves, West said:

“And yes, as you probably could’ve guessed in this moment, I’ve decided in 2020 to run for president,” West said.

In another memorable moment of last night’s show, a new pop star battle played out between rapper Nicki Minaj and the show’s host Miley Cyrus.

Nicki Minaj bites back at host Miley Cyrus after accepting her award for best hip hop video

Minaj, who opened the show, also brought Taylor Swift onstage to perform alongside her. Their performance ended with a hug, leading MTV to declare an end to the feud that had emerged after the nominations were announced last month.

The Guardian reports how Swift had taken Minaj’s tweeted criticism of racism in the music industry personally, leading the pop star to respond to Minaj on Twitter, writing: “I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot ...”

Swift apologized days later, however before the night ended, Minaj responded to criticism from the show’s host, Miley Cyrus, who had said in an interview on the New York Times last week, that Minaj’s criticism was impolite and came from a place of jealousy.