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Madonna then kissed Spears and Aguilera on their mouths, beforeMissy Elliottjoined the performance to rap “Work It.” However, she’s not often remembered as part of the number, as the lip-locking prompted a media frenzy that’s still discussed today.
Aguilera then joined the number, and rehearsals were seemingly going well — but most people reportedly didn’t know exactly what was going down until former VMAs director Beth McCarthy-Miller flew to Los Angeles to watch a run-through.
“‘You’re not going to be able to tell anyone, but I think this is going to make you happy,'” Toffler recalled McCarthy-Miller telling him over the phone at the time, perRolling Stone. “‘Madonna kisses Britney and Christina.'”
“You knew it was going to be a moment,” Strauch reportedly told the outlet of learning the performance’s details. “I remember everyone smiling and high-fiving.”
Britney Spears and Madonna.KMazur/WireImage
“Radio stations around the country were coming to do live broadcasts from there, so we had to get literally everybody out,” Calderone toldRolling Stone. “And then you’ve got the gift room — that had to be evacuated. Even security. At the end, there were only a handful of us in that room, and a few people in the truck outside [where McCarthy-Miller and her team dictated the camera shots].”
The secrecy paid off in the end, as the performance became a massive news item. It’s still spoken about to this day, as fellow pop star Pink recentlyclaimed to have been askedto be part of the performance alongsideGwen Stefani.
source: people.com
