John Travolta Explained What Happened During His VMAs Mix-Up
The internet had a field day during the MTV VMAs when it appeared as though John Travolta mistakenly offered up Taylor Swift’s Video of the Year award to Jade Jolie, a Swift impersonator and drag queen who appeared in the singer’s star-studded “You Need to Calm Down” video. The memes were flying, the reaction gifs were abundant, and rest assured: there were plenty of “Adele Dazeem” references to be found. Now, the actor is speaking out about the viral moment — and he’s choosing to laugh it off.
RELATED: People Think John Travolta Mistakenly Offered Taylor Swift's VMA to Drag Queen Jade Jolie
For Travolta, having a sense of humor about things like this is the only answer — especially given how big of a celebrity he is. “If I shave my head it’s headlines,” he said. “If I mispronounce something, that’s headlines, and I know that about me.”
Travolta apparently wasn’t the only one who found the exchange funny; according to Swift’s BFF Todrick Hall (who also co-executive produced the “YNTCD” video), the singer-songwriter had a good laugh. “He was so confident that it was her,” Hall said on the Jerry O show, per Entertainment Tonight. “I loved it, I saw it and we talked about it backstage. Taylor thought it was hilarious.”
RELATED: John Travolta's Teenage Daughter Looks *So* Much Like Him
😂😂🤷♀️❤️Almost got my first award tonight thanks to @johntravolta 😂😂😂😘😘😘
A post shared by Jade Jolie (@missjadejolie) on Aug 26, 2019 at 8:58pm PDT
😂😂🤷♀️❤️Almost got my first award tonight thanks to @johntravolta 😂😂😂😘😘😘
A post shared by Jade Jolie (@missjadejolie) on Aug 26, 2019 at 8:58pm PDT
To be fair, Jolie looks an awful lot like Swift — and in the midst of a high-pressure moment, it’s pretty understandable to make that mistake! As Hall himself put it: “Everybody knows that [Jolie] is the Taylor Swift doppelgänger, so I think that was the highest compliment he could pay her.” And that's that on that!