Lucas Jackson / Reuters
For the most part, the lyrics being censored weren't obscenities.
Fans of the two songs know among the bleeped content were drug references to "molly" aka MDMA aka ecstasy.
Here are the lyrics that were bleeped.
From "We Can't Stop":
"So la da di da di, we like to party
dancing with Molly
doing whatever we want"
From Kanye's "Blood on the Leaves":
"Let's take it back to the first party
When you tried your first molly"
It's not just the VMAs that censor the lyric. The radio does it, too.
Younger viewers would probably easily miss the drug reference if it wasn't bleeped. If anything, the abrupt censor would bring more attention to the obscured lyric, prompting kids to ask about the questionable lyrics.
Yet while MTV bleeps the word "molly" saving our ears from a drug reference, it has no problem showing us Lady Gaga strut around the stage in a seashell bikini thong or Cyrus gyrating against Beetlejuice-clad Robin Thicke.
Cyrus has previously opened up about the censoring of the controversial lyric to The Daily Mail:
"It depends who's doing what. If you're aged 10, [the lyric is] 'Miley,' if you know what I'm talking about then you know. I just wanted it to be played on the radio and they've already had to edit it so much," says Cyrus. "I don't think people have a hard time understanding that I've grown up. You can Google me and you know what I'm up to -- you know what that lyric is saying."