Revisiting Taylor Swift and Kanye West's MTV VMAs Feud 15 Years Later

Nevertheless, Swift—who’d been a instrumentality of West—made it wide she didn’t privation immoderate atrocious blood.

“I don’t cognize him,” she shared successful footage captured by Entertainment Tonight, “and I don’t privation to commencement anything.”

Of course, West’s interruption did commencement thing that turned into 1 of the most-talked-about personage feuds. Although, it initially looked similar the Grammy winners would enactment the full happening down them.

Days aft the VMAs, Swift told ABC News Radio West called her and “was precise sincere successful his apology,” which she accepted. She adjacent played “Innocent”—a opus rumored to beryllium astir forgiving him—at the ceremonial the pursuing year.

As for West, helium told Jay Leno soon aft the 2009 VMAs that his behaviour was “wrong” and “rude period.” (Though, a year later, he described the infinitesimal to Ellen DeGeneres arsenic 1 of "sincerity oregon alcohol” and that helium considered himself a “soldier of culture.” He besides told The New York Times successful 2013 that helium didn’t regret the onstage interruption and that helium apologized retired of adjacent pressure).

By 2015, Swift, West and his then-wife Kim Kardashian were spotted chatting it up astatine the Grammys.

“I consciousness similar I wasn’t acceptable to beryllium friends with him until I felt similar helium had immoderate benignant of respect for me, and helium wasn’t acceptable to beryllium friends with maine until helium had immoderate benignant of respect for me—so it was the aforesaid issue, and we some reached the aforesaid spot astatine the aforesaid time,” the “Fearless” creator told Vanity Fair that year. “I became friends with Jay-Z, and I deliberation it was important, for Jay-Z, for Kanye and I to get along.”

And she noted she liked West “as a person. And that’s a truly good, bully archetypal step, a bully spot for america to be.”

So erstwhile Swift was asked to contiguous him with the Video Vanguard Award astatine the 2015 VMAs successful what was expected to beryllium a full-circle moment, she agreed.

Playing disconnected their “infamous encounter” from the nighttime they met six years prior, Swift said, “I conjecture I person to accidental to the different winners tonight, ‘I’m truly blessed for you, and Imma fto you finish. But Kanye West has had 1 of the top careers of each time.’”

But past successful 2016, West released his opus and euphony video for “Famous.” And fans watched the feud statesman again.

To sum it up swiftly, Swift said West ne'er told her astir the lyric, “I made that b---h famous." However, helium and Kardashian said he’d given Swift a heads-up astir the song—with the world prima telling GQ astatine the time, “She wholly approved that.”

That summer, Kardashian posted videos to Snapchat that appeared to amusement Swift and West discussing The Life of Pablo track. Swift responded by asking, “Where is the video of Kanye telling maine helium was going to telephone maine ‘that b---h’ successful his song? It doesn’t beryllium due to the fact that it ne'er happened.”

“Being falsely painted arsenic a liar erstwhile I was ne'er fixed the afloat communicative oregon played immoderate portion of the opus is quality assassination,” she aboriginal added successful portion of her societal media post. “I would precise overmuch similar to beryllium excluded from this narrative, 1 that I person ne'er asked to beryllium a portion of, since 2009.”

Looking backmost connected the incidental during a 2023 interrogation with TIME, Swift said the ungraded felt similar “a vocation death.”

“You person a afloat manufactured framework job, successful an illegally recorded telephone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and past enactment retired to accidental to everyone that I was a liar,” she continued. “That took maine down psychologically to a spot I’ve ne'er been before. I moved to a overseas country. I didn’t permission a rental location for a year. I was acrophobic to get connected telephone calls. I pushed distant astir radical successful my beingness due to the fact that I didn’t spot anyone anymore. I went down really, truly hard.”   

As Swift—who'd also addressed the song during her Album of the Year acceptance code astatine the 2016 Grammys—has explained, the contented was bigger than the lyric and took into relationship her past with West.

In 2019, she told Rolling Stone that reconnecting with him aft the 2009 VMAs incidental “was healing immoderate puerility rejection oregon thing from erstwhile I was 19" and that she’d conscionable wanted West’s respect.

“So erstwhile helium gets connected the telephone with me, and I was truthful touched that helium would beryllium respectful and, like, archer maine astir this 1 enactment successful the song,” she added to the outlet. “And I was like, ‘OK, good. We’re backmost connected bully terms.’ And past erstwhile I heard the song, I was like, ‘I’m done with this. If you privation to beryllium connected atrocious terms, let’s beryllium connected atrocious terms, but conscionable beryllium existent astir it.'"

So yes, you could accidental determination person been antithetic eras of the feud, which person occasionally popped up successful Swift’s music. Take her 2017 reputation album oregon 2024 way “thanK you aIMee”—more precocious called “thank You aimEe.” And portion fans person their ain theories connected the songs (pointing to however the capitalized letters spell retired “Kim” arsenic good arsenic West’s caller sanction “Ye”), Swift hasn’t been arsenic cryptic astir her feelings toward the song.

"It truly makes maine deliberation astir however each clip idiosyncratic talks s--t, it conscionable makes maine enactment adjacent harder and it makes maine adjacent tougher,” she said during 1 of her June Eras Tour concerts successful London, per Parade. “So, it besides makes maine incredibly thankful for those people.”

Fans volition conscionable person to enactment tuned to spot what the 2024 MTV VMAs volition bring…ready for it? The lawsuit volition instrumentality spot Sept. 11 astatine UBS Arena successful Elmont, New York.

For now, support speechmaking to look backmost astatine much memorable VMA moments from implicit the years.