We were all so ecstatic to see Daft Punk appear on The Colbert Report; and then so crushed when they couldn’t appear because of their scheduled surprise appearance at the VMAs. Soon after their no show appearance we learned that if Daft Punk were to perform/ appear on The Colbert Report, it would supposedly, “breach their contractual obligation with MTV“. Well new information has surfaced from the executive producer of the VMAs, Jesse Ignjatovic, that dismisses all of the above. Ignjatovic told The Hollywood Reporter:
We don’t put restrictions on anyone. I just think that we’re talking to them about a moment and then things sort of change. I would not describe that as MTV putting restrictions on people; it was up to that artist and their management what they wanted to do.
It seems the VMAs had no problem or concerns with the duo appearing on The Colbert Report prior to their appearance on the VMAs. Based upon the VMAs executive producer Jesse Ignjatovic’s claim, no pressure was put on Daft Punk for their performance, it was either the management or the artists themselves that wanted out of their appearance on The Colbert Report.
Source: Pitchfork
They’ve let fame go to their head and chose which one had the higher viewing audience and more pay plain and simple. I love DP with all my heart, in fact they’re one of my inspirations and it almost pains me to call one of my role models money grubbers but people change and ya know…money’s money lol.
Obviously Ignjatovic is going to cover the VMAs ass, but you know damn well that if Daft Punk went on Colbert, MTV would sue them for breach of contract, since MTV had the exclusive rights to any live DP performance leading up to the VMAs. So let’s not act like MTV had nothing to do with the no-show.
Maybe there was no direct pressure from MTV (which I find hard to believe), but either way, Daft Punk knew, or their managers knew at least, that they would be punished monetarily for appearing on Colbert.
I like when people assume they know the whole story and claim that “fame is going to their heads”. It’s always easy to criticize until the shoe is on the other foot.