Corey Moss: Double Underdog
Ever feel like an underdog? How about a double underdog?
Despite interviewing everyone from Stevie Wonder to Billie Joe Armstrong, being a part of the early Aughts MTV News Dot Com Team amidst a remote newsroom of TV producers often made one-time MTV News Senior Writer Corey Moss feel that way.
“I came from online and from the L.A. office,” the veteran producer, writer, and director of more than 70 projects including “First Responders In Crisis” and “Rosé All Day” says. “So I was the double underdog.”
Did hailing from a “flyover state” like Iowa have anything to do with his POV?
“Absolutely,” he says. “That underdog mentality has always been a part of me. Nothing gets handed to you growing up there. So my goal was to never have anybody say that I didn’t do my job or wasn’t prepared.”
In fact, from 2000-2007, Corey was a go-to interviewer in MTV News’ L.A. Bureau, covering red carpets from the Grammys and Oscars to the Movie Awards and VMAs.
“You can usually stockpile a few day’s worth of breaking news stories from from a good red carpet.”
And in fact, Corey was more than prepared.
“I was the Jay-Z of MTV News,” he laughs. “I memorized my interview questions. Still do. So I will never break eye contact in an interview.”
On this week’s You Hear It First podcast, Corey takes us to Neverland Ranch, onto the set of The Dukes of Hazzard with a young Jessica Simpson, backstage with Beyonce, on-camera with Rihanna, into the studio with the former Mr. Britney Spears, Kevin Federline. And he tells us what it was like to be behind the mic for one of Kanye’s most well-documented rants.
Listen to Corey’s You Hear It First: An Unofficial & Uncensored History of MTV News episode on Apple (bit.ly/3vsKyVT) or Spotify (bit.ly/4cr2gcZ) now.
