--- title: VMAs 2016: Drake Tries to Kiss Rihanna MTV Vanguard Winner description: The internet is obsessed with Drake trying to kiss Rihanna at the VMAs. canonical: https://time.com/4470474/mtv-vmas-2016-rihanna-drake/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-29T15:19:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:57.871Z og:title: The Internet Can't Get Enough of Drake Trying to Kiss Rihanna og:description: The biggest fan boy of the only girl in the world og:url: https://time.com/4470474/mtv-vmas-2016-rihanna-drake/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted1ea095e899fbad/6988a3fa656a3f634abcce7c/gettyimages-597576064.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Can't Get Enough of Drake Trying to Kiss Rihanna twitter:description: The biggest fan boy of the only girl in the world twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted1ea095e899fbad/6988a3fa656a3f634abcce7c/gettyimages-597576064.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Drake's Longing for Rihanna Reach Its Pinnacle With Their VMA 'Kiss' by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 29, 2016 3:19 PM UTC  Drake presents Rihanna with the The Video Vanguard Award during the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden on August 28, 2016 in New York City. Drake presents Rihanna with the The Video Vanguard Award during the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden on August 28, 2016 in New York City.Michael Loccisano&Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 29, 2016 3:19 PM UTC As [Drake](http://time.com/4470251/vmas-2016-drake-rihanna/) presented Rihanna with the MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at Sunday night’s VMAs, he seemed to try to kiss [the singer](http://time.com/4468748/rihanna-wink-videos/), but that level of public affection just wasn’t on the table. Quick rundown: [Drake](http://time.com/4470053/vmas-2016-mtv-drake-traffic/) emptied the contents of his heart in an impassioned speech about how the singer is one of his “best” buds who he’s been in love with since he was 22\. He then appeared to try to seal the deal with a kiss, but Rihanna pulled away as she accepted her moon man statue. See the field day the internet is having with this moment below. > [](https://twitter.com/Jarred%5FClifford/status/770239808467791873) > [](https://twitter.com/AmirS%5F05/status/770109826999386117) > [](https://twitter.com/kobiontheradio/status/770107845840953345) > [](https://twitter.com/mashablegif/status/770108373920522245) > [](https://twitter.com/kobiontheradio/status/770107845840953345) > [](https://twitter.com/kylebuchanan/status/770106664926273536) > [](https://twitter.com/SowmyaK/status/770106663969890304) > [](https://twitter.com/problematiques/status/770106547213066240) VMAs 2016: Drake Tries to Kiss Rihanna MTV Vanguard Winner ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4470474/mtv-vmas-2016-rihanna-drake/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4470474/mtv-vmas-2016-rihanna-drake/"},"headline":"Watch Drake's Longing for Rihanna Reach Its Pinnacle With Their VMA 'Kiss'","datePublished":"2016-08-29T15:19:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:57.871Z","description":"The biggest fan boy of the only girl in the world","url":"https://time.com/4470474/mtv-vmas-2016-rihanna-drake/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Music","Drake","Rihanna"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted1ea095e899fbad/6988a3fa656a3f634abcce7c/gettyimages-597576064.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted1ea095e899fbad/6988a3fa656a3f634abcce7c/gettyimages-597576064.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show","caption":"2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show","creditText":"Michael Loccisano&Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4470474/mtv-vmas-2016-rihanna-drake/","name":"Watch Drake's Longing for Rihanna Reach Its Pinnacle With Their VMA 'Kiss'"}}]}] ```