Taylor Lautner’s Surprise Eras Tour Appearance Included A Speech For Taylor Swift

Upon the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on July 7, Swifties hopped aboard the time machine that is a Taylor Swift re-record — and that means revisiting the relationships that shaped Swift’s 2010 album, too. The musician’s reported romance with John Mayer (which is widely believed to be the inspiration for “Dear John”) has fueled much of the discourse surrounding the new Speak Now, to the point that Swift even asked her fans not to “defend [her] on the internet” against anyone they think she wrote a song about.

On the other hand, there’s one ex who never needed to worry about a Taylor’s Version reckoning. Taylor Lautner, who was linked to Swift in 2009, is thought to be the inspiration for the wistful, post-breakup song “Back to December.” She said it addressed “a first” for her in a 2010 Comcast interview, explaining that she had “never apologized to someone in a song before.”

“This is about a person who was incredible to me. Just perfect to me in our relationship,” Swift added of the song’s subject. “And I was really careless with him. So this is a song full of words that I would say to him, that he deserves to hear.”

Fans long speculated that the song was about Lautner. “And how you held me in your arms that September night / The first time you ever saw me cry,” for example, is often attributed to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards — where Kanye West crashed Swift’s Best Female Video acceptance speech. Lautner was there that night (he actually presented Swift her award), and has since expressed regret about how the incident went down. “[I] was unaware that the Kanye thing was not a skit,” he recalled on The Squeeze.

Lautner himself acknowledged the song was about him in a 2016 Facebook Live, after fielding questions from his Scream Queens co-stars. He also recently told Today that he’s “praying for John,” referencing Swift’s other Speak Now-era ex — and took that to a literal level in a TikTok the next day.

So, has Lautner responded to “Back to December (Taylor’s Version)” specifically since the new album dropped July 7? While he hasn’t addressed the updated song itself, he has made it very clear that he has nothing but love and respect for his songwriting ex and her work. On the night that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) debuted, Lautner attended her show in Kansas City to help Swift with one of her big surprises: The actor took the stage — literally cartwheeling and flipping down it — with Joey King and Presley Cash to join Swift in unveiling her new music video for the vault track “I Can See You,” which they all star in.

Lautner spoke to the crowd during the big reveal and showed his support and warm feelings for his ex. “I just want to say one thing quick,” he told her in front of the cheering crowd. “I respect you so much, not for the singer you are, the songwriter, the performer, but truly for the human you are. You are gracious, humble. You are kind and I’m honored to know you, so thank you for having me be a part of this and being part of my life.”

Lautner later called the whole night “wild” in an Instagram post featuring him, Swift, and his wife (yet another Taylor) recreating the viral Spider-Man pointing meme. As someone many fans consider Swift’s “best ex,” he seems to be enjoying the return to his era. Not all of Swift’s exes, on the other hand, can say the same.