Pop star Pink delivered an impassioned speech about gender identity while accepting the coveted “Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award” at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night, according to Harper’s Bazaar.
“Recently, I was driving my daughter to school, and she said to me, ‘I’m the ugliest girl I know,’” Pink recounted. “I went home and I made a Powerpoint presentation for her. And in that presentation were androgynous rock stars and artists that live their truth, are probably made fun of every day of their life, and carry on, wave their flag, and inspire the rest of us.”
Pink cited artists like Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury and Janis Joplin as some of the musicians and artists who have challenged conventional gender norms throughout history, asserting to her daughter that rather than change in the face of criticism, embrace it.
“We don’t change,” Pink said. “We take the gravel and the shell and we make a pearl. And we help other people to change so they can see more kinds of beauty.” Take a look at the clip above.
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
