Post Malone and Vince McMahon perform “Stand Back” at MTV Video Awards
After months of self-imposed exile, sports-entertainment mogul Vince McMahon emerged last night in the most spectacular way — performing a duet with Post Malone of his 1987 breakout pop hit “Stand Back.”
McMahon, 91, dazzled the live audience at the MTV Video Awards, and millions watching on television, by recreating the Elvis-like charisma he displayed during his first performance of the song at the Slammy Award.
The song, ostensibly about Andre the Giant but actually a proclamation from McMahon to the doomed promoters of wrestling’s territorial system, was a number-one hit for nine days, eventually being topped by Slick’s iconic “Jive Soul Bro.”
McMahon and Post Malone were clearly lip-synching to an auto-tuned recording, and McMahon kept asking roadies where Karl Malone was. Eagle-eyed viewers may have spotted Hulk Hogan on bass — and, of course, B. Brian Blair and Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell on saxophone.
Some pundits have decried the performance as a publicity stunt meant to distract from recent allegations that McMahon is exactly the person everyone always assumed him to be.