Madonna was presenting George Michael with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1989 MTV Awards when the ‘Faith’ singer kissed the Queen of Pop in front of the whole world.
It’s not every day you get kissed on lips by someone you have a crush on, but that’s exactly what happened to Madonna in 1989.
George Michael was being presented the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award – also known as the Video Vanguard Award – when he gave Madonna a sensual kiss on the lips.
The moment between the two stars aired live to the world on September 6, 1989 from the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.
Madonna and Paula Abdul were the joint biggest award winners of the night with four awards each, with the Queen of Pop winning Best Direction in A Video, Best Art Direction in a Video and Best Cinematography in a Video for ‘Express Yourself’, and the highly coveted Viewers Choice Award for ‘Like a Prayer.’
Performances on the night included The Rolling Stones singing ‘Mixed Emotions’, Jon Bon Jovi giving a rendition of ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ and Cher‘s ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ and after the performances were nearly over, it was soon time for the last award of the night.
Madonna, smoking a cigarette and accompanied by two smoking backing dancers, comes on stage to present the Video Vanguard Award to “an artist who has made outstanding contributions to the world of music video.
“He has an excellent voice, he’s a great songwriter and he makes very classy videos…ladies and gentlemen, George Michael!”
What follows is a montage of George Michael speaking about his music videos and including clips from ‘I Want Your Sex’, ‘Faith’ and ‘Monkey’, before the cameras cut back to Madonna.
“George, I Want Your Sex,” she says to a wolf whistling crowd. “So be my Father Figure, and I will have Faith if we have to live Hand To Mouth! Ladies and Gentlemen, the diva himself, George Michael!”
The singer himself then walks out on stage and after waving to the crowd immediately gives Madonna a huge bear hug, before approaching the podium.
As the ‘Like A Virgin’ singer hands him the famous silver MTV astronaut statue, George leans forward and kisses Madonna gently on the lips as the audience scream.
The camera then cuts away just as Madonna can be seen smiling before she waves to George and leaves him on stage on his own to make an acceptance speech.
The 1989 MTV Awards took place when George Michael was riding on the coattails of his sex symbol status with Wham!, ten years before he would officially come out as gay and two years before he met the ‘love of his life’ Anselmo Feleppa.
