Lady Gaga to Open MTV Video Music Awards

Lady Gaga has been named the opening performer of MTV's 2011 Video Music Awards. The show takes place Aug. 28 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.

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Gaga announced her headlining spot during Thursday's MTV First: Lady Gaga special. She said, "I have a really big announcement. But I thought as usual, instead of me announcing it, I'd let the Little Monsters do it for me."

With that, according to MTV, a line of mostly black-clad fans unfurled a banner in Times Square that read, "Gaga to open VMAs!!!"

Lady Gaga wore a long blonde wig, pearls and a white fluffy headpiece for the MTV special, where she answered fans questions and talked about her new “You and I" video. Afterwards, she headed 10 blocks north to the Roseland Ballroom to see Beyonce perform; Jay-Z and Jennifer Hudson were also in the audience.

VIDEO: MTV VMAs Video of the Year Nominees

Gaga is nominated for four video music awards including best female video and best video with a message for "Born This Way." She won best new artist at the 2009 awards.

Katy Perry, Adele and Kanye West are the top nominees for the awards this year. Perry collected nine noms, including video of the year and best female video for "Firework." Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" from her 21 album will also compete for video of the year and goes head-to-head against Perry in six other categories.

Like Adele, West also collected seven nominations --  for his collaboration with Perry on "E.T." as well as his "All of the Lights" and "Power" videos.

Bruno Mars, Beastie Boys, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Chris Brown and Foster the People also have multiple nominations.