Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech
In one of the most infamous awards show moments of all time, at the 2009 Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift won Best Female Video, only for Kanye West to get up on stage, interrupt her, and yell, “Yo Taylor. I’m really happy for you. I’m gonna let you finish. But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!”
The most uncomfortable part of the whole incident wasn’t even when West was on stage. It was after West gave the microphone back to Swift, who had no idea what she was supposed to say in response to that and who, after quickly thanking her fans, just got off the stage. To her credit, when Beyoncé won Video of the Year later that night, she called Swift up to properly finish the speech.
It’s difficult to overstate the impact of this; it would ultimately go on to become a major factor in the careers of both West and Swift. Swift later wrote a song, “Innocent,” as a direct response to the incident. And in his song “Famous,” West would say of Swift, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that b*tch famous.”
