Celebrities

No, Charli xcx wasn't reacting to Taylor Swift at the MTV VMAs - viral clip explained

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images, and Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

A clip has gone viral of Charli xcx appearing to side-eye Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards - but it's not quite as it seems...

Swift, who received the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors, took to the stage to thank the fans for their support, saying "...why I love writing and directing music videos so much is because you, the fans, make it so much fun."

The crowd can be heard cheering in response, and the camera then cuts to Charli xcx who appears to be side-eyeing and nonchalantly clapping her hand on her leg in the audience.

Charli's reaction went viral, but it was for Swift's acceptance speech...MTV

There has been much speculation over the two pop stars and their rumoured feud, with fans theories that Charli's song 'Sympathy is a Knife' and Taylor's song 'Actually Romantic' are about one another.

This recent clip posted on X/Twitter has received over 6.1 million views and 106,000 likes, however there's just one problem... it's fake.

Charli was not reacting to Swift, instead the shot of her was captured during Nirvana’s speech while accepting the Video Vanguard Award.

Underneath the viral clip, this is flagged by X with the added context reading: "The video is edited. Charli XCX's reaction was filmed during Nirvana's Video Vanguard Award speech, not Taylor Swift's."

Meanwhile, other people were also pointing out the misinformation, highlighting that the clip was edited.

One person said, "This was during the Nirvana video Vanguard Award btw."

"She was reacting to nirvana, not Taylor. Lets not set her up," a second person wrote.

A third person added, "So this is edited ...and for what."


"Why did yall edit this, this was not the best time?? u can literally see how there was blue lights in the background and it was red when she was speaking?" a fourth person pointed out.


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