Taylor Lautner says he thought Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs was a 'skit'

Taylor Lautner is well aware that he dropped the ball when it came to stopping Kanye West from interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards.

When asked by his wife, Tay Lautner, if there was any moment from within his decades-long career that he'd like the chance to revisit, the Twilight star immediately picked what has, arguably, become one of the most infamous moments in pop culture history.

"The 2009 VMAs," Lautner replied on Wednesday's episode of The Squeeze podcast. "When I presented the award to Taylor [Swift] and was unaware that the Kanye [West] thing was not a skit."

Lautner, who presented Swift with the Best Female Video award for her song "You Belong With Me," was still standing onstage when West took the microphone from a stunned Swift during her acceptance speech and proclaimed that Beyoncé's track "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" was "one of the best videos of all time."

So why didn't Lautner step in? Well, because he simply thought it was all part of the plan. "I can barely hear it. I can't see them. I'm just assuming this whole thing was a practiced and rehearsed skit, because why else would Kanye West be jumping on the stage interrupting Taylor Swift?" He said. "It just didn't make sense."

In fact, Lautner said that viewers can spot him "laughing" and "giggling" in the background during West's comments because he fully assumed that the pair were crushing it onstage together. He added, "I'm like, 'I can't hear them, but this is probably really funny right now.'"

But Swift, Lautner soon realized, wasn't laughing. "He jumped off. She finished [her speech]," he said. "The second she turned back around and I saw her face for the first time, I was like, 'Oh no. That wasn't good. Probably should've said something.'"

Lautner eventually got his chance to defend Swift's honor while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2013. As part of his opening monologue, the actor performed a complex fight sequence that ended with him punching off the head of a mannequin version of West and then nearly kissing a mannequin version of Swift. Better late than never, right?

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