2003 MTV Europe Music Awards

The 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards were held in Western Harbour in Edinburgh, Scotland. The awards ceremony was held in a 6,000-capacity big top arena constructed specifically for the main event.

On the night, Justin Timberlake notably received a total of three awards, for Best Male, Best Pop and Best Album.

Presenters included André 3000, Justin Timberlake, The Black Eyed Peas and Ludacris.

Nominations
Winners are in bold text.

Regional nominations
Winners are in bold text.

Pre show

 * Jane's Addiction — "True Nature"

Main show

 * Christina Aguilera — "Dirrty"
 * Beyoncé (featuring Sean Paul) — "Baby Boy"
 * Kylie Minogue — "Slow"
 * Missy Elliott — "Work It / Pass That Dutch"
 * The Black Eyed Peas (featuring Justin Timberlake) — "Where Is the Love?"
 * Travis — "The Beautiful Occupation"
 * The Chemical Brothers and The Flaming Lips — "Hey Boy Hey Girl (intro) / The Golden Path"
 * Dido — "White Flag"
 * Kraftwerk — "Aerodynamik"
 * The Darkness — "I Believe in a Thing Called Love"
 * The White Stripes — "Seven Nation Army"
 * Pink — "Trouble"

Appearances

 * Pink — presented Best Album
 * Justin Timberlake — introduced Kylie Minogue
 * Shirley Manson and Sharleen Spiteri — presented Best Dance
 * Michael Stipe — introduced Dido
 * Andre 3000 — presented Best R&B
 * Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell — presented Best Rock
 * Kelly Osbourne — presented Best Pop
 * Billy Boyd and Gerard Butler — presented Best Hip-Hop
 * Kylie Minogue — introduced Kraftwerk
 * Christina Aguilera — presented the Free Your Mind Award
 * Sean Paul — presented Best Female
 * Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo — presented Best Male
 * Minnie Driver — presented Best Video
 * Chris Pontius and Preston Lacy — presented Best Group
 * Chingy and Ludacris — presented Best New Act
 * Vin Diesel — presented Best Song

Live technical difficulties
During the live performance of Beyoncé and Sean Paul's "Baby Boy" (near to Paul's rap), the backing tracks of vocals ("Baby boy you are so damn fine") started to malfunction, failing to repeat and losing the instrumental part of the song. Through the technical difficulties, Paul sang for a bit; Beyoncé asked the crowd how they were doing, which received applause and cheers.

The malfunction of the backing track vocals was cut from the live airing on TV but still played through the venue. Both artist and the dancers exited the stage, which then resulted in confusion among the presenters. When Christina Aguilera walked onto the stage to continue the event, the musical track stopped playing again. After Pink presented the award for Best Album, the duo was asked if they would like to do a re-take. Both agreed and performed the song as rehearsed. The re-take would replace the original take on re-airings of the show. This caused the EMAs to be extended, which had never happened before.