--- title: Michael Avenatti Showed Up to the 2018 MTV VMAs description: Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti just showed up on the pink carpet of the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, puzzling many. canonical: https://time.com/5372536/michael-avenatti-video-music-awards/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-21T00:35:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:24.567Z og:title: Michael Avenatti Had a Puzzling MTV VMAs Presence og:description: #Basta og:url: https://time.com/5372536/michael-avenatti-video-music-awards/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcaafb4d3f2f52db/6989382bdb2987bb00260762/michael-avenatti-mtv-vmas-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: 2018 MTV Video Music Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michael Avenatti Had a Puzzling MTV VMAs Presence twitter:description: #Basta twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcaafb4d3f2f52db/6989382bdb2987bb00260762/michael-avenatti-mtv-vmas-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michael Avenatti Rolled Up on the Pink Carpet at the 2018 MTV VMAs Because Of Course He Did > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 21, 2018 12:35 AM UTC  Michael Avenatti attends the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Aug. 20, 2018. Michael Avenatti attends the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Aug. 20, 2018. Nicholas Hunt—Getty Images for MTV by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 21, 2018 12:35 AM UTC No one was expecting [Michael Avenatti](http://time.com/5371362/michael-avenatti-trump-new-hampshire-presidency/) at the [2018 MTV Video Music Awards](http://time.com/5347009/2018-mtv-video-music-awards-guide/), but there he was. His pink carpet arrival may have given us the first inexplicable surprise of the evening, as the late August event drew some of the biggest names in music like Cardi B, Shawn Mendes and Jennifer Lopez. So when the attorney for Stormy Daniels, who has targeted President Donald Trump, posed for the cameras in a suit fit for the courtroom, it was puzzling to some observers. Asked what he was doing there by _Variety_, Avenatti said, “Well I was invited to this great event. It’s a pretty cool event, and I thought I’d show up.” Was he surprised by the invite? “A little bit. A little bit,” he said. > [](https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1031695108305956865) Avenatti has parlayed the lawsuit against Trump into appearances on cable news and feints at a 2020 presidential run. On Sunday in New Hampshire, he pitched Democratic voters on a potential presidential run. “When they go low, we hit harder,” Avenatti said, a combative twist on former first lady Michelle Obama’s famed slogan. He’s not the first notable person from the political arena to attend music’s most unpredictable awards ceremony, but he was certainly unexpected this year. People took to Twitter to remark on one of the more surprising sightings of the evening. See a sampling of the tweets below. > [](https://twitter.com/patrickhosken/status/1031690808183939073) > [](https://twitter.com/PopBangHugh/status/1031690680979079173) > [](https://twitter.com/evanrosskatz/status/1031690091696152576) > [](https://twitter.com/CourtneySoliday/status/1031688725951070208) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5372536/michael-avenatti-video-music-awards/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5372536/michael-avenatti-video-music-awards/"},"headline":"Michael Avenatti Rolled Up on the Pink Carpet at the 2018 MTV VMAs Because Of Course He Did","datePublished":"2018-08-21T00:35:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:24.567Z","description":"Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti just showed up on the pink carpet of the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, puzzling many.","url":"https://time.com/5372536/michael-avenatti-video-music-awards/","keywords":["Newsfeed","awards"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcaafb4d3f2f52db/6989382bdb2987bb00260762/michael-avenatti-mtv-vmas-2018.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/bltfcaafb4d3f2f52db/6989382bdb2987bb00260762/michael-avenatti-mtv-vmas-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2018 MTV Video Music Awards","caption":"Michael Avenatti on the red carpet at the 2018 MTV VMAs","creditText":"Nicholas Hunt—Getty Images for MTV","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/5372536/michael-avenatti-video-music-awards/","name":"Michael Avenatti Rolled Up on the Pink Carpet at the 2018 MTV VMAs Because Of Course He Did"}}]}] ```