Oral History of the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards

[just444]

We spoke to the artists, producers, reporters and MTV staffers who witnessed the Kanye West/Taylor Swift #VMAs madness firsthand.

Get the scoop on what you didn't see on TV the moment that Kanye rushed the stage below. https://t.co/BQcqjBlrmJ
- billboard (@billboard) August 21, 2019
Billboard spoke with artists, producers, reporters and MTV staffers

Comments

[joe_pwnz_pete]

idk why but hearing that Beyonce was crying backstage at the 2009 VMAs and going "I feel so bad for her" makes me like her more also hearing that Eminem offered to let her go out for his award was kind of hilarious to me given how much of a shit stirrer he is.

Taylor went and aced her live performance and production was very impressed and thankful

I think this is a lie? I believe that performance was pre-recorded.

[joe_pwnz_pete]

Presumably, the part in the subway was what was pre-recorded probably? I remember watching it live (I'M SO OLD) and thinking she sounded a little shakier towards the end.

[bttrsondaughter]

The subway scene was pre-recorded. I remember watching a VMA special and they said they shot that the night before the show, and then had to do the live portion when they run out onto the street immediately after the Kanye incident, so no one knew if she was going to be able to hold it together

[poison_i_v]

The entire planet will be on fire in 2050 and we'll somehow still be talking about this moment. I've had enough!

[la_petite_singe]

It's also just the two particular artists are so still very loud in culture -- that's a big part of why people are still talking about it.

Well, "loud" is certainly the word for it. Time to break out this classic again:

when Kanye took that VMA from Taylor I was like "oh, weird" not "this will psychologically cripple both artists, driving them to madness"
- caitlin bitzegaio (@caitorade) August 27, 2017

[saikaro_x]

lmao that tweet is everything. i never could have imagined him doing it was this pivotal moment in pop culture history.

[veryshortstory]

I think about this tweet from time to time. It really is sad.

[flawfreesince93]

It's literally the equivalent of a 6 year-old girl having her birthday candles blown about by her troll of a brother. Except people still feel some type of way about it.

Re: You left out the best part, OP...

[filmstudent23]

Exactly, this thing put her on everyone's radar whether she likes it or not. And the fact that she hasn't let go of it, doesn't help either. We are all just stuck in the middle.

Re: You left out the best part, OP...

[genbu_no_miko24]

Yep. This helped her crossover into pop mainstream immensely.

Re: You left out the best part, OP...

[aleksie]

TBH, I didn't even know a song by her. I only looked up "You Belong with Me" because I thought Kanye was trolling about how he liked lyrics from it. They didn't seem like real lyrics to me.

[justrachna]

That’s enough.gif.

Do you guys think she would’ve been as relevant today if this didn’t happen? Tbh I didn’t even know who she was before this moment

[msbombtastic]

I don't think so, she was popular don't get me wrong, but among a specific crowd. I think that incident brought her to the wider public's attention and also positioned her very sympathetically, so anything she released for a while after that would also sort of have "built in" support.

[sandstorm]

No, bc she wouldn't have been handed a "Poor little white girl" narrative to run with for the next 10 years.

[crucified]

Exactly.