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How Kenny G ended up opening the 2025 MTV VMAs

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Kenny G performs during the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for MTV)

Over the decades, the MTV VMAs have featured its share of unexpected moments, but Sunday night’s installment of the show included something truly unusual: The first music we heard was the saxophone stylings of Kenny G.

The smooth jazz superstar played an instrumental introduction before Doja Cat took the stage to perform her hit “Jealous Type.” Kenny told Entertainment Tonight that the pop superstar’s team simply reached out to him, and he said yes. “I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And they said yeah,” Kenny told ET. “And so we worked out that introduction, we made up that whole thing, just to get her going on the song.”

Kenny also said it was his first-ever appearance on the MTV VMAs, noting that back in the day he was more of a VH1 artist. 

He wrote on Instagram, “I was super excited to be part of a night that’s usually reserved for the new, young, current artists. Getting to actually open the show was absolutely surreal! I was so flattered that @dojacat wanted me to be part of her song and to share her performance with me tonight. She couldn’t have been more welcoming, and it truly made this old guy feel great!”

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