This story about Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson is seriously awful

The Avril Lavigne of 2017 is a wildly different rock star from her teenage years.

Gone are the days she donned a school tie over a band t-shirt with her hair perpetually fixed over her eyes.

No more anti-establishment Avril. The Canadian musician is now blonde, pop-y and even had a stint as an American Idol judge.

However, an incident with fellow musician Kelly Clarkson during the 2002 VMAs is making the rounds online.

During a chat with SiriusXM host Howard Stern Clarkson revealed that young Avril was allegedly mean.

I got elbowed in the face by someone I was giving an award to at the VMAs.

Naturally after this statement we had a little look around, and lo and behold, found this clip (the shove happens at around the 1:37 mark)

Here’s a gif, in case you missed it:

Rude.

Anyway, Stern must have seen the clip too, because he asked her if she was referring to Lavigne. She confirmed that she was.

Clarkson added a caveat though:

I will say this: Years later I saw her and she said, ‘Oh my gosh, people keep saying I elbowed you in the face and I’m so sorry!’ And I don’t know...she did it...but I don’t know if she felt bad about it, or she didn’t mean to do it, or what...but it felt purposeful!