Taylor Swift Subtly Joked About The Kanye West VMAs Incident At The Eras Tour

Taylor Swift is not okay with being interrupted — unless it’s for applause and nice chants. At her Eras Tour show in Mexico City on Aug. 27, the singer made a shady yet apt reference to the Kanye West incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, after her audience interrupted her in a much more positive way.

Prior to performing “champagne problems,” Swift was sitting at her woodsy piano and telling fans how the idea of the Eras Tour came to be when they started chanting her name mid-sentence. She was awed by the enthusiastic crowd and told them how great it felt to be cut off in this instance. “That is the loveliest and best way to be interrupted, by the way, just people chanting your name,” she said. “It’s really the only way to be interrupted, and I would know,” she added, slyly referring to the incident.

In 2009, West infamously stormed the VMAs stage as Swift won Best Female Video to declare that Beyoncé “made one of the best videos of all time” and deserved it instead. Nobody found it funny, including Bey herself, who decided to bring Swift onstage when she won Video of the Year later that night so Swift could finish her acceptance speech.

The two slowly made up after the debacle, with Swift writing a song about forgiving West, “Innocent,” for her Speak Now album and performing it at the 2010 VMAs, the only time she’s ever played the song live. Swift even winded up presenting West with the Video Vanguard Award at the 2015 VMAs in a full-circle moment. However, that all changed once again after the rapper released his “Famous” music video the following year, and all hell broke loose thereafter.

Taylor Lautner, who was dating Swift at the time and presented her with the award, reflected on the incident on his podcast The Squeeze, saying he initially thought West’s interruption was planned. “I can barely hear it, I can’t see them,” he said. “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.” He only realized what happened after seeing the defeated look on her 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’ve said something,’” he recalled.