Taylor Swift‘s pal Jack Antonoff has broken his silence after he was slammed by fans who spotted him ‘plugging his ears’ during Katy Perry‘s VMAs performance on Wednesday.
The music producer — who attended the ceremony with wife Margaret Qualley in support of Swift and her seven wins — took to X (formerly Twitter) to address his critics.
Antonoff confirmed that he did in fact use earplugs as a precaution throughout the three-hour show that saw Perry and 15 other musicians take the stage.
He then launched into a sarcastic apology, revealing to fans that he’s a frequent wearer of earplugs and poking fun at his habit being ‘exposed’ by online trolls.
‘i would like to tell you directly from me that i did in fact use earplugs the other night. they were blue ‘hearos’ brand and im mortified to admit that i’ve been using them for a long time as well as buying them in bulk,’ Antonoff began.
‘i would also like to be honest and get ahead of that fact that i do not only use them when in 100 plus DB environments. it is humiliating to admit that i use them on planes and every night while sleep.
‘there is nothing left to do but apologize and thank those who have covered this story because although it’s an embarrassment to my family and i, i do believe that this was a very important and pressing issue that needed to be exposed,’ he continued.
‘i’m sorry to those i let down and today i will not being going to work and instead thinking about my earplug use and everyone that has been affected by it.’
He concluded the humorous post by noting that despite the faux controversy, he and his band Bleachers ‘have decided to keep all dates as scheduled.’
The backlash kicked off on X on Wednesday as a video surfaced of Antonoff standing with his arm around wife Margaret before raising his hands to his ears during Perry’s 20-minute set.
Meanwhile, everyone else around the rocker — including Swift, Tyla and Suki Waterhouse — could be seen dancing to Perry’s live vocals.
Both he and Qualley stood still in another clip with the music producer’s arm firmly around her waist, while Swift stood alongside them and sang enthusiastically to Perry’s California Gurls.
In another clip, Swift and Waterhouse were dancing along to Dark Horse, while Qualley stood holding her clutch next to them with Antonoff rummaging behind him, standing up and inserting something in his ears.
Critics were quick to notice the odd behavior and share their theories online – some suggesting he was listening to something in AirPods rather than Perry’s performance.
Perry was celebrating her legacy and accepted the Video Vanguard award.
‘THAT man is so disgustingly disrespectful holding your wife from dancing to someone and having AirPods during their performance from a one-sided beef while they’ve never acknowledged you neither I person or in public,’ a user raged, along with a clip of the group in the audience.
‘I just know she wanted to dance so bad,’ one user wrote on the social media platform, referring to Qualley’s stiff stance.
Others defended the producer’s actions, pointing out it’s not uncommon for music producers to wear earplugs at loud events to protect their hearing.
‘Uhhhhh he had earplugs (looks like loop earplugs) in to protect his hearing (as you should if you produce music, or are even at a loud concert in general),’ one eagle-eyed user pointed out.
They added: ‘And he was holding his wife like that all night. It’s not that deep.’
‘He’s not wearing AirPods omg, he’s putting in earplugs to protect his hearing. Pretty common practice at big loud concerts especially when you have a job where protecting your hearing is important.
‘Isn’t it more likely he’s just wearing hearing protection and hugging his wife,’ another argued.
Antonoff is known to Swifty superfans as the brains behind some of the pop star’s greatest hits – including Anti-Hero, Cruel Summer, August, Bejeweled and I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.
While there is no active feud, some fans pointed out Antonoff slammed Perry’s music in the past.
In an interview with GQ, Antonoff praised Swift’s songwriting while calling songs released by Perry and Gaga as ‘throwaway, comparatively.’
‘Taylor Swift is cool, because she’s the closest thing today that hearkens to Michael Jackson – to great, great pop music,’ he said at the time.
‘There’s a difference between her and Gaga and Katy Perry and Lily Allen and all that. It all feels throwaway, comparatively.
Perry received the 2024 Video Vanguard Award at the ceremony, celebrating her achievements as an artist in her over two decades long career.
‘Katy is a musical powerhouse and true pop culture icon,’ said Bruce Gillmer, chief content officer of music at Paramount+ and president of music, music talent, programming and events at Paramount in a statement after she was announced as the next recipient of the Vanguard Award, according to AP.
Swift made history on Wednesday night at the VMAs, becoming the ceremony’s most decorated solo artist ever.
The 34-year-old pop megastar was the big winner at this year’s event, scooping seven prizes, and she now has a total of 30 VMAs gongs to her name.
Beyoncé also has 30 VMAs wins, but only 25 as a solo artist, because five of those victories came when she was part of Destiny’s Child.
