Some VMAs Viewers Got Mad At Jack Antonoff For Wearing Earplugs During Katy Perry’s Performance, And He Had An All-Time Classic Response

Anytime there are awards being handed out to musicians, you know Taylor Swift is in the conversation — not only for the inevitable trophies she will leave with, but for how much she’s known to enjoy awards show performances. When MTV’s Video Music Awards hit the 2024 TV schedule this week, Swift went viral for her sweet support of Katy Perry , but some thought that goodwill didn’t extend to other members of Swift’s entourage. Jack Antonoff took some flak from viewers who noticed he was wearing earplugs during the performance, and his response to the backlash is iconic.

Jack Antonoff Jokes That He’s ‘Mortified’ To Admit He Wore Earplugs At VMAs

Katy Perry was awarded the Video Vanguard Award on Wednesday during MTV’s annual celebration of music videos, and before she took the stage to accept her Moon Person, she performed a medley of her greatest hits. With so many eyes on Taylor Swift dancing the night away, it’s not surprising that people also noticed her longtime friend and producer Jack Antonoff sitting by her, and that he was wearing earplugs (thought by many to be AirPods). Antonoff addressed what some perceived to be shade on social media, writing in a four-part post :

OK, so clearly Jack Antonoff isn’t really sorry, and nor should he be. The earplugs likely didn’t actually keep him from being able to hear Katy Perry belting out songs like “E.T.,” “Teenage Dream” and “California Gurls,” but rather protected his eardrums in such a loud environment. His faux apology tour continued:

Rest assured, Bleachers fans, it doesn’t look like earplug-gate is going to ruin the tour. This is a pretty iconic response to what shouldn’t really have been an issue, but the drama is real, because some people were really buying into the theory that Jack Antonoff was being super petty.

What Fans Said About Jack Antonoff ‘Shading’ Katy Perry

To be fair, everybody looked less enthused than Taylor Swift to be watching Katy Perry’s VMAs mashup, but that’s only because the Midnights artist was dancing her ass off. However, as Jack Antonoff stood nearby wearing earplugs, some people thought he was being really disrespectful. Some comments on X (Twitter) included:

• has this motherfucker just took ear plugs out of his ears? wtf? why does he hate her that much? – VNDREW7
• damn jack antonoff really hates katy 💀 – taylorsversion
• I think he's very narcissistic and thinks he's the greatest producer, so he hates every artist in the world, like Katy, Gaga and others. CLOWN – wtnsskp

Even before Jack Antonoff’s tongue-in-cheek response, though, people defended him, pointing out that his livelihood depends on being able to hear and saying putting in earplugs is not all that uncommon at concerts or similar environments. Fans wrote:

• People coming for Jack Antonoff for putting in ear plugs during Katy Perry’s performance tonight have got to be 12 years old and don’t understand how important it is to protect our geriatric ear drums at live shows 😂😂😂 – undomaggie
• i supported jack antonoff even when i thought he was deliberately shading katy perry – cruelomens
• how DARE you, a music producer, use earplugs to protect your hearing? – speaknowfrlssly

I can understand people thinking he was being disrespectful when they thought he was wearing AirPods, but it should be pointed out that It’s not just those who make their living in the music industry who should consider their eardrums in such situations. I think it’s great that Jack Antonoff doesn’t seem to be taking the criticism too seriously.