Taylor Lautner Reveals He Thought Kanye West Interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs Was a ‘Practiced Skit’
Taylor Lautner with Kanye West and Taylor Swift inset. Shutter (2)
Taylor Lautner returns to the 2009 Video Music Awards. The Twilight star recalled the night his then-girlfriend Taylor Swift’s awards show victory was upstaged by Kanye West.
Not only did Lautner, 30, revisit the incident, but he also expressed regret over her initial reaction. During the Wednesday, Feb. 1 episode of his “The Squeeze” podcast, his wife Taylor Dome asked him what career moment he would choose to relive.
“Probably the 2009 VMAs when I presented the award to Taylor,” the Valentine actor replied. “[I] didn’t know the Kanye affair wasn’t a skit.
At the September 2009 awards show, Lautner was tasked with presenting the award for Best Female Video. He announced that Swift, now 33, won the coveted honor for her “You Belong With Me” music video. As the Valentine actress – who Lautner dated between August and December 2009 – began her speech, she was interrupted when West, now 45, rushed onto the stage.
“Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish. But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time [with ‘Single Ladies’]! One of the best videos ever,” the Yeezy creator proclaimed as he grabbed the microphone.
West shrugged before handing the microphone back to the country star. Swift and Beyoncé, now 41, were both stunned. The “Drunk in Love” singer was even seen saying “Oh, my God” during the explosion. (Beyoncé then invited Swift to “have her moment” and finish her speech after “Single Ladies” won video of the year.)
“Yeah [we had just gone public with our relationship] and I gave him the prize, so I gave him the prize [and] I took five steps back and was standing five feet behind her,” Lautner recalled to his wife, whom he married in November 2022, during Wednesday’s podcast episode. “In the middle of his acceptance speech, Kanye jumps on stage.”
He continued, “I can barely hear it. I can’t see them. I just guess this was all a practiced and rehearsed skit, because otherwise why would Kanye West jump on stage, interrupting Taylor Swift? It just didn’t make sense.”
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Dome, who joked that she was “dead” that his wife had addressed the infamous awards squabble during their joint podcast, agreed with Lautner’s knee-jerk reaction.
“He jumped, she finished [and] the second she turned around and I saw her face for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh. No, it wasn’t good,” the Abduction star added.
The “Stronger” rapper later apologized for his actions directly to Swift.
“Kanye called me and he was very sincere in his apology, and I accepted that apology,” the “Anti-Hero” singer told ABC Radio later that year. “The support I’ve had from other artists and from fans, and so many people who support me, is what led me to accept this apology. And I’m just so grateful that everyone showed so much love.
When Swift released her Speak Now record a year later, it was rumored that “Innocent” was written about the incident and subsequent apology, though the Pennsylvania native never confirmed this publicly.
The “Carolina” singer and West then reignited their feud in 2016. In February, the Chicago native rapped on his track “Famous” that he had “made that female dog famous” and featured a Swift lookalike in the video clip.