Madonna brought the house down at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, 23 years after last opening the show.

The “Confessions II” artist, who is 68, has now opened the awards show a record five times.

For Sunday night’s performance, the singer brought out Charli xcx, Sabrina Carpenter, Sombr and her longtime best friend ― Debi Mazar. Madonna also brought out Andrew Watt, Seth Rogen (!) and Julia Garner, who was supposed to play the icon in her since-shelved biopic.

People on X couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw some of the guests, but Rogen in particular had everyone doing a double-take:

Actor Seth Rogen smoking a blunt on stage with Madonna looking cool! #VMAs

madonna and sabrina carpenter and charli xcx and....is that? julia garner? and WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT SETH ROGEN WHAT IS GOING ON

SETH ROGEN ON STAGE WITH CHARLI AND MADONNA WAS NOT ON MY BINGO CARD ???? THIS IS INSANE FOR ME

Madonna most memorably opened the show in 2003, alongside Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

Madonna is up for an astounding 11 nominations at the Video Music Awards, including Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year.

Taylor Swift isn’t far behind her, with nine nominations, including the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors.

MTV described the honor in a press release as “a new award recognizing groundbreaking music artists whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling.”

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