Taylor Lautner on Initially Thinking Kanye’s Taylor Swift VMAs Interruption Was a ‘Skit’

Taylor Lautner is reflecting on how it felt to be steps away when the artist formerly known as Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Speaking on the recently launched podcast The Squeeze with his wife, Taylor Dome (now also Taylor Lautner), the actor was asked toward the end of their conversation to name a moment in his life he would return to if possible. Naturally, this resulted in Lautner bringing up the infamous VMAs moment, which saw him on the same stage as Swift, with whom he was in a romantic relationship at the time.

“Probably the 2009 VMAs when I presented the award to Taylor and was unaware that the Kanye thing was not a skit. … That would have been helpful to know,” Lautner said. Asked to explain this a bit further, he continued by detailing his thought process during the pop culturally volcanic incident.

“I gave her the award, I took five steps back and was standing five feet behind her, and in the middle of her giving her thank you speech Kanye jumps up onto the stage,” he recalled. “I’m standing behind them. I can’t see either of their faces.”

Additionally, due to how speakers are positioned at such ceremonies, Lautner was unable to clearly hear what, exactly, was transpiring before him.

“I can barely hear it,” he said. “I can’t see them. I’m just assuming that this whole thing was a practiced and rehearsed skit because why else would Kanye West be jumping up on the stage interrupting Taylor Swift? It just didn’t make sense. And if you look back at it , I’m actually caught, like, laughing and giggling at him like, ‘I can’t hear them but this is probably really funny right now.’”

Shortly after, Lautner was made aware of the reality of what was going on, all thanks to the expression on Swift’s face.

“The second she turned back around and I saw her face for the first time I was like, ‘Oh no. That wasn’t good. Probably should have said something,’” he said.

See more below. The VMAs-focused part of the discussion comes in around the 49:27 mark.

14 years later, Swift is poised to soon direct her first feature film. Ye, meanwhile, is more known these days for praising Hitler and espousing anti-Semitic remarks than he is for anything artistic.