VMAs flashback: Taylor Swift thanked ‘boyfriend’ Travis Kelce at 2024 awards
The day after President Donald Trump bashed “woke” Taylor Swift — again — and doubled down on his dislike of her, the Eras Tour superstar was nominated Tuesday for the MTV Video Music Awards Artist of the Year.
Her fellow nominees in the category are Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Morgan Wallen, The Weeknd and Lady Gaga, who picked up 12 VMA nominations, the most of any artist.
Last year, when Swift won Video of the Year for “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, one of seven awards she won that night, her fans were elated by her sweet shoutout to beau, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. He was not in attendance.
She shared that Kelce had been with her during the making of the video, and the crowd roared when she called him “my boyfriend.”
“The thing is that this video, it seems very sad when you watch it. But it actually was like the most fun video to make. And something that I’ll always remember is that when I would finish a take and I’d say cut and we’d be done with that take, I would always just hear someone like cheering and like ‘wooooo,’ like from across the studio where we were shooting it,” Swift said in her acceptance speech.
“And that one person was my boyfriend Travis ... everything this man touches turns into happiness and fun and magic.”
Swift also encouraged viewers to vote in the presidential election. The night before the MTV awards she endorsed Kamala Harris for president after the vice president debated Trump.
After Swift’s endorsement, Trump posted this all-caps social media declaration: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
He has not forgotten.
In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump mentioned Swift again as he sounded off on the current controversy surrounding an American Eagle jeans ad starring actress Sydney Sweeney.
The denim dust-up didn’t appear to be on Trump’s radar until reporters asked him to weigh in.
“Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there. It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ‘em Sydney!” he wrote on Truth Social.
He went on to bash “woke” ad campaigns from Jaguar and claimed that “Bud Lite” went “Woke and essentially destroyed, in a short campaign, the Company,” a reference to the beer company’s 2023 ad starring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Then he took a swipe at Swift.
“ ... just take a look at Woke singer Taylor Swift,” he wrote. “Ever since I alerted the world as to what she was by saying on TRUTH that I can’t stand her (HATE!). She was booed out of the Super Bowl and became, NO LONGER HOT.”
(The boos appeared to come from Philadelphia Eagles fans, who beat the Chiefs that night in New Orleans.)
Music fans will have a say in how popular Swift is when they vote in 19 VMA categories at vote.mtv.com.
Swift is the most-decorated artist in VMA history.
The awards will be broadcast live from UBS Arena on Long Island at 7 p.m. Central on Sept. 7. You can watch on CBS and stream on Paramount+.
This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 1:01 PM.
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