Madonna's Speech at MTV Awards

Madonna!

Because you cannot shake me. Because you'll never break me.

Because you cannot take me down.

Because you cannot shake me. Because you'll never break me.

Because you cannot take me

down.

Thank you.

First of all,

I would like to thank my fingers

because I can always count on them.

Um, some of you were probably not born, I think most of you

were probably not born,

but I performed at the first MTV Awards 40-

43 years ago. Yes.

And, um,

I had a little problem with my shoes,

and one of my stilettos fell off, and I dove onto the stage

to try to, like, make myself look cute and sexy

and like I meant to do it. And my dress went up, and

my butt cheek was hanging out and- In those days, butt

cheeks were not hanging out, I just wanna remind you.

Um, and I went backstage feeling really proud

of myself, and my manager told me

that my career was over.

That is the truth. Not my manager now. No.

He was the, like, he was the, the, um,

I don't know. What were you? You were the assistant to the manager. He

was ...

He, um,

yeah. Don- yeah.

It's best not to say anything. I might lose my train of thought.

Um,

seriously, uh,

I really want you to know that I spent the last year and a

half

finding myself,

believing in myself, and really making the

music that I wanted to make.

Um, and to me, that really is the definition of being an artist,

and my hope for

all of you here tonight is that you spend the next year or the

next 10 years or what, the rest of your life doing the same.

Finding yourself and believing in yourself.

And I also want to very specifically thank Stuart Price.

Um, who knew that 20 years after Confessions

won we could pull it

off again? I love you so much. Thank you for being my ride or die,

always.

Thank you, MTV. Thank you, Guy.

Thank you.