Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Rod Stewart, Janet Jackson, Gwen Stefani Save an Otherwise Gruesome American Music Awards

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If I see Bensom Boone do one more flip on stage, I will flip — out.

Boone’s one trick pony show continued tonight on the American Music Awards, the first edition in a few years.

Jennifer Lopez hosted for no reason, wandering in looking beautiful after performing a pedestrian medley of other people’s hits.

Dylan Efron, Zac’s brother, is being turned into a pitchman. He introduced commercials.

The totally strange set up was saved only by three veterans who put their all into the show: Rod Stewart, Janet Jackson, and Gwen Stefani.

Otherwise, there was no show. Several winners weren’t present but sent videos because these awards are not surprises. The whole thing always was and is still rigged. SZA and Boone were pretty much guaranteed wins because they were there in person.

Janet Jackson really pulled off a great commercial for her live touring show. She just turned 59 but God bless her, she’s still got it.

Rod Stewart sang his Bob Dylan collaboration, “Forever Young.” But he included live bagpipes and violin playing hotties. Rod’s voice is sporadic but his enthusiasm is undimmed. The whole thing was a hoot.

Rod was greeted on stage by several of his adult children, who he didn’t expect to see. Who was missing? Wife Penny Lancaster. She wasn’t even sitting with him in the audience. He was stuck between two unidentified brunettes.

The AMAs are Walmart to the Grammys’ Tiffany’s. Tonight they only gave out a few awards, the rest were a mystery. The show stopped short at two hours. It was all very random. Many presenters were “influencers” no one has heard of.

I didn’t expect much, so I wasn’t disappointed. There was enough time to switch over to the Yankees-LA Athletics game, so I’m grateful.

Were there winners? Who knows? Who cares? CBS filled a couple of hours cheaply, which seemed to be the point.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eV6Q5Hen-0E

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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