Billboard Music Awards

Morgan Wallen continues to rake in success, despite using a racial slur -- the guy just nabbed multiple wins at the Billboard Music Awards ... even though he wasn't allowed to show.

The country singer was among several winners who were announced before the broadcast -- which starts at 5 PM PT -- and lo and behold ... he ended up taking three awards home, after being nominated for six total.

MW won for Top Country Artist, Top Country Male Artist and Top Country Album -- for his sophomore project, "Dangerous: The Double Album," which has continued to stream incredibly well in recent months. This in spite of the fact that he hurled the n-word in February.

Dick Clark Productions had already said Wallen would NOT be involved in the BBMAs this year in any capacity because of the epithet he said ... saying his behavior didn't align with their values. That said, they acknowledged he'd move forward as a finalist nonetheless, which was based solely on his music numbers and his charting.

DCP said they'd reevaluate his progress in the near future and decide if they want to invite him back for next year. Of course, Wallen doesn't appear to have done a whole lot outside of basic apologizing ... as we've reported ourselves.

Drake is about to get a huge award and he wants his family close as he receives it.

Billboard will bestow the Artist of the Decade Award on Drizzy Sunday night and it's clearly something that's meaningful to him. His mom, who almost never makes a public appearance, will be front and center as her son accepts the honor ... this according to production sources.

Drake's son, Adonis, will also be in the audience ... watching his dad clutch the award.

The award is a big deal ... previous winners include Mariah Carey in the 1990s and Eminem in the 2000s.

Drake has snagged 27 Billboard Music Awards, and that makes him the record-holder. He received 12 in 2019 alone. As accomplished as he is, Drake was stoked to dine with his idol ... Ronald Isley of the Isley Brothers. Drake said he was "high on life" after dining with Ron.

BTW ... Nick Jonas will host the event, which airs on NBC at 8 PM.

The only thing bigger for Drake might be a chance to play for the Raptors.

Demi Lovato performed her new song with a message for viewers to "VOTE" ... but when it aired on NBC ... the network muzzled her message.

Lovato took the stage Wednesday for a moving rendition of her song "Commander in Chief," a song that takes direct aim at President Trump. We've obtained footage of Demi's performance -- the way she wanted it to air and it was originally recorded -- and at the end the word "VOTE" is very clearly displayed across the video board on the stage.

That final message was gone when the show aired on TV. In its place -- a close-up of Demi at the piano.

Sources say the network pulled the plug on the "VOTE" message because the song itself was a slam on Trump and the "VOTE" message was a call to vote against him.

The song's lyrics leave no question about Lovato's feelings about the Prez ... "Commander in Chief, honestly. If I did the things you do, I couldn't sleep, seriously. Do you even know the truth? We're in a state of crisis, people are dyin.' While you line your pockets deep. Commander in Chief, how does it feel to still be able to breathe?"

She doubled down on her message earlier Wednesday, saying, "I literally don't care if this ruins my career."

John Legend's first time onstage since he and Chrissy Teigen's third child died -- moments after a premature birth -- was as moving and heartwrenching as you'd expect.

John performed "Never Break" Wednesday night for the Billboard Music Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. He lovingly dedicated the performance to Chrissy, after host Kelly Clarkson sent love to her and John.

Kelly explained how both John and Chrissy "have this warm way of inviting us into their world, the highs and the lows," and then claimed this performance as possibly her favorite of the night. Easy to see why after watching him perform this moving ballad.

John and Chrissy shared the heartbreaking news last month that the baby they named Jack had passed due to complications that included severe bleeding from the placenta.

The couple had been very open with fans, sharing everything from the moment doctors put Chrissy on bed rest, and even once she had to be admitted to the hospital to get blood transfusions.

Since revealing the heartbreaking news, the couple's taken time to themselves to mourn as a family ... with their kids, Luna and Miles. No one would've blamed John if he'd skipped the Billboard performance, and the fact he did it was a powerful tribute to Jack.

Blake Griffin sure hopes Drake didn't seal Arya Stark's fate on "Game of Thrones" by shouting her out at the Billboard Music Awards ... him and everyone else, tbh.

We got the Pistons star outside of the Maxfield clothing store in WeHo Friday afternoon and asked him about Drizzy showing love to Maisie Williams' 'GOT' character Wednesday night when he mentioned her during his acceptance speech for the Top Billboard 200 Album.

ICYMI ... Drake made sure to plug Arya for "putting in that work last week" during Sunday's episode when she killed the Night King with some fancy dagger moves -- basically saving every living person in Westeros from eternal death in the process.

BTW, this is a spoiler -- and you should've seen it by now. If you haven't, well, here it is ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway ... Blake really, REALLY hopes the Drake curse doesn't kick in here for everyone's sake. Like he says, "I think we all need a little bit of Arya." Considering Champagne Papi's track record with supporting losing teams ... here's praying Blake's right.

Sorry, Tom Brady ... Rob Gronkowski looks like he's OFFICIALLY moved on from football -- and onto acting -- 'cause the retired Pats star killed it as a fake cop at the Billboard Music Awards!!

It all went down Wednesday night ... when Gronk kicked off the BBMA show as a "security guard" who was bouncing Kelly Clarkson.

The skit was pretty funny ... Gronk pretended to kick KC -- who he called a "seat filler" -- out of her spot to let Florida Georgia Line take her place.

When Clarkson eventually moved on to sing her opening number ... Gronk came back for more -- pretending to drag her off the stage!!

Gronk later presented an award to Cardi B with Terry Crews -- and even joked about his potential next career there ... saying he wanted to be a TV host just like TC!!!

Oh, and the guy had amazing seats -- proving Hollywood is totally down to accept him -- 'cause he was sitting in the second row just behind Taylor Swift!!!!!

Of course, Rob's no stranger to Hollywood ... he's had plenty of movie cameos, he's done skits for the WWE, and he even hosts the show "Crashletes" on Nickelodeon.

By the way, Rob also brought his smokin' hot GF, Camille Kostek, to the awards show ... which begs the question, could there be some wedding bells along with a future acting career soon???

Diplo had one hell of a night in Vegas ... with a lot of famous friends in the mix.

The DJ capped off an action-packed Thursday in Sin City by DJing a show at Wynn's Encore Beach Club ... which served as the official after-party of the 2019 Billboard Music Awards.

Among the celebs who joined him onstage was Halsey -- who also performed at the BBMAs -- and she rocked a couple of her hits live, "Closer" and "Bad at Love." She told the crowd she was going big or going home ... and they ate it up.

Speaking of going big, Diplo's late-night set came after he attended the awards show at the Grand Garden Arena and then made his way over to the Little White Wedding Chapel ... to be one of the select few guests at Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner's surprise wedding.

As we reported ... the couple got married by Reverend Elvis after the Jonas Bros performed just hours earlier at the BBMAs. Diplo captured the ceremony on his Instagram Live.

The 2019 Billboard Music Awards are in full swing ... and there have been some amazing performances so far.

Some of the biggest names in music took the stage Wednesday night for some pretty awe-inspiring performances inside the Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas ... rocking the crowd and getting everyone hyped between the award-giving.

Taylor Swift set the tone for the night, playing her new single "ME!" and bringing in a marching band for a super colorful set. Kelly Clarkson kept the party going, belting out a medley of hits from artists across all genres of music. Ciara did her thing, Halsey sang her heart out and the Jonas Brothers continued their triumphant return and kept the good vibes rolling.

The stages weren't the only thing getting the rock-n-roll treatment ... check out which famous folks where hanging out behind the scenes when the television cameras weren't looking!

Ariana Grande's 2018 has been a roller coaster ... and her emotions about it came spilling out as she accepted a Woman of the Year award.

Ariana was honored at Billboard's Women in Music Awards Thursday night and went from smiling and joking to fighting back tears. She was thrilled about reaching new heights in her career -- culminating with the success of her "Thank U, Next" music vid. The singer said that might have people thinking she's on top of the world.

She quickly reminded the crowd it's been one of the worst years of her life, outside of music, adding ... "As far as my personal life goes, I really have no idea what the f*** I'm doing."

Ariana was clearly referring to her recent breakup with Pete Davidson ... and losing her ex-boyfriend, Mac Miller, when he tragically died in September. Not to mention dealing with the aftermath of last year's bombing at her Manchester concert.

Watch the video ... she also threw a jab at herself for giving away "love and forgiveness" to men. She says that's gonna change.

Shawn Mendes just honored victims of gun violence with an emotional tribute at the Billboard Music Awards ... and with the help of students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

Shawn took the stage Sunday to perform his song "Youth," and was joined by singer Khalid ... who's featured on the song. Toward the end of the performance, multiple students from MSD's choir came out as well to help him finish out the tune.

We broke the story ... Shawn was aiming to send an uplifting message with the Parkland students' cameo -- especially in the wake of another school shooting this week that left 10 people dead.

Taylor Swift's shaking off critics who compare her to a "drunk turtle" -- and serving up big compliments to Post Malone for one of his hits.

The superstars came face-to-face backstage Sunday night at the Billboard Music Awards, and she immediately told Post she was a huge fan of his track, "Better Now." One part of it, in particular.

It looks like this was the first time they met because Post seemed surprised by Taylor's shout-out -- but, still ... cool backstage moment we rarely get to see.

Taylor's bubbly mood shows she's hardly reeling from the harsh, yet hilarious, criticism of her cover of Earth, Wind and Fire's "September."

She performed it during one of her recent concerts, and the co-writer of the track said Taylor sounded like a "a drunk turtle dozing under a sunflower after ingesting a bottle of Valium."

Shawn Mendes will perform his song "Youth" at the Billboard Music Awards as a tribute to those affected by gun violence, and he'll be joined on stage by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Show Choir.

Sources close to production tell TMZ Mendes and Khalid -- who is featured on the song -- wanted to shed light on the recent tragedies ... including the shooting at Santa Fe High School on Friday that left 10 dead.

"Youth" -- a song with a message about not allowing pain and tragedy to steal a kid's youth -- was released earlier this month after the massacre at MSD in Parkland, Florida which left 17 students and faculty members dead. Our sources say 12 members from the school's show choir will be featured in the performance.

We're told show producers were left scrambling Friday to also work in a tribute to Santa Fe which happened BBMA host Kelly Clarkson's home state of Texas. Production sources say rehearsals for the performance Saturday left those watching in tears.

Danielle Bregoli says she's already winning by being nominated by Billboard Music Awards as the Top Rap Female Artist with Cardi B and Nicki Minaj.

We got Danielle -- who goes by Bhad Bhabie in the music world -- on the heels of her being nominated for the prestigious award Tuesday along with arguably 2 of the biggest rappers in the game right now, and she was feeling pretty confident.

Danielle thinks she's the real winner at the end of the day -- the kid's just 15 years old, after all -- even though she concedes Cardi will probably walk away with the actual trophy. She explains why by taking multiple shots at Nicki ... and it ain't pretty, just petty.

Celine Dion's dressing room at the Billboard Music Awards was virtually a revolving door of star power ... celebs simply couldn't get enough.

Sources close to the award show tell TMZ Celine had MANY famous visitors throughout Sunday night's BBMAs -- and some couldn't even snag a little face time with the Queen.

We're told artists like Drake, Desiigner, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, and Vanessa Hudgens all stopped by to pay their respects to Celine, but mostly to gush about how much they loved her. Vanessa even shed tears over her performance, and Drizzy suggested getting her tatted on his ribs.

The one celeb left out was Jason Derulo. We're told he waited in her dressing room for 45 minutes while Celine was doing press, and passed the time chatting with her son, Rene Charles. Fortunately, he finally got to meet her.

Lots of people saw the performances at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards but check out what went down when the TV cameras were turned off.

The Cyrus brood was all over the place, Drake was rubbing elbows with everyone from Celine Dion to Desiigner and Nicki Minaj's attiou're is hard to look at and then look away.

Maybe not the most stirring show, but plenty of eye candy for sure.

Cher took home the "Icon" award at Sunday's Billboard Music Awards -- and to the surprise of viewers and show execs -- she didn't mention President Trump.

TMZ broke the story, award show producers went into Sunday holding their breath for what the singer -- who's been extremely critical of Trump -- may say during her acceptance speech. Lucky for ABC ... Cher held back on any vulgarity or any Trump remarks at all.

The 71-year-old took the stage to perform "Believe" and "If I Could Turn Back Time" before accepting the award from Gwen Stefani. Her speech was short and simple ... thanking friends, family and those who helped her in the industry.

Chaz Bono was also there to see mom accept the award.