Has it been 10 years since the glorious year that was 2009? Man, those were simpler times. Indie rock was on a high, Short Stack were a thing and Tarantino was obsessed with WWII. But all that was overshadowed by one event that continues to reverberate today: the infamous Taylor Swift/Kanye West VMAs scandal.
What Kanye did was a bit of a dick move but no one could’ve predicted that it would be one of the defining moments of the 2000s. Hell, not only are we still talking about it today but the fallout is still hanging over both Tay Tay and Kanye (to the benefit of both their careers, let’s be honest).
Since we’re closing on the 10th anniversary of Kanye’s infamous “Imma let you finish” moment, Billboard decided to dive deep into the aftermath of the incident and boy did they unearth some tasty behind-the-scenes gems we never heard before.
Beyoncé apparently cried backstage afterwards out of embarrassment and sympathy for Tay Tay, Kanye was apparently wasted on Hennessy whiskey the whole time, and the redemptive moment where Queen Bey gave Taylor the stage to make her interrupted speech was all hastily put together at the last minute by the producers.
But the biggest revelation was the role Pink played in the scandal and how she basically tore Kanye a new arsehole.
According to former MTV News correspondent James Montgomery, Pink “walked up” to Kanye after the commercial break and “got in his face.” While he couldn’t hear what was said, Pink was apparently “pointing in his face and nodding her head back and forth, and giving him her two cents about how f***ed up this was and then stormed off.”
We may never know what exactly was said that night but we can hazard a guess based on this tweet from Pink shortly after the event.
The whole 2009 VMAs oral history by Billboard is worth a look beyond the Pink/Tay Tay/Kanye stuff because its filled with how tasty anecdotes on how the incident played out backstage and how networks desperately tried to get the same lightning in a bottle moment again but failed to do so.
Still, the biggest take away from the whole thing is Pink being a certified badarse.
The 2009 VMAs may be a night Taylor Swift and Kanye West will never ever forget, but Pink turned out to be the unsung hero of the whole thing because she got the party started by going up to Kanye and said what we all wanted to say after infamous moment unfold before our very eyes.