"Propaganda we hear every year" - Netizens react to the rumor of Taylor Swift performing at VMAs 2025

On Friday, August 8, @ThePopTingz shared a tweet about Taylor Swift, rumored to be one of the performing acts at the 2025 MTV VMAs, which will be hosted at Elmont's UBS Arena on September 7, 2025.

Swift has had a long-standing history with the VMAs, as the singer is one of the artists with the most awards won at the event (30), tied only with Beyoncé.

While there has been new confirmation about the news, it has already attracted the attention of netizens. One of them commented:

"Propaganda we hear every year"

Eleanor 🤍🏈🐍💖💙🐕

@ElaineGilmarti7

Propaganda we hear every year

Some netizens claimed that the rumor of Taylor Swift performing at the VMAs was most likely to be untrue.

Nancy_E

@Nancy_Bell1

Not falling for that again

allegedly

@TweetsStolen

Gaga thought she would be the star that night🥹

American Country Music Chatter

@ACMC_Country

Hey Alexa, play 'My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys' so everyone has the source.

Meanwhile, others poked fun at the You Belong With Me singer's performance skills.

sirbey🐝

@LalaAmie79

I hope she took singing and dancing lessons, and worked on her body fluidity, too.

fagtini

@slaygaykay

her pulling a bey and revealing her baby bump on stage >>>>

Jaey Kholin ★ 1.1K

@jaeydiaries

if she didn't we will be looking for your house 🙄

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Taylor Swift is in the running for the Artist of the Year award at the VMAs

Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Source: Getty

The rumor about Taylor Swift performing at the VMAs comes days after the MTV award show announced its nominations for all categories for this year. Swift was nominated in a single category this year, Artist of the Year.

According to Billboard, Swift is competing for the award with other A-list artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Morgan Wallen, Kendrick Lamar, and The Weeknd. Gaga has won the most nominations this year, bagging nods across 12 categories. A majority of the singer's nominations are credited to her latest hit with Bruno Mars, Die With a Smile.

Mars closely follows Lady Gaga with 11 nods, Kendrick Lamar with 10, Rosé and Sabrina Carpenter with eight each, Ariana Grande and The Weeknd with seven each, and Billie Eilish with six.

Lady Gaga, who has already won 18 VMAs in her career so far, has previously dominated the nominations in 2010 (with 13 nods) as well as 2020 (with nine nods).

Despite winning the Video of the Year consecutively for the last three years, Taylor is not included in the category this year. Her only music video eligible for entering the VMAs this year was I Can Do It With a Broken Heart, which unfortunately didn't make the cut.

Besides Taylor, the other artists in the competition who have already won the award in the past are Lady Gaga (who won it in 2020) and Bad Bunny (who won it in 2022).

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If Taylor Swift performs at the VMAs this year, it will mark another return of the singer to the stage. According to USA Today, her first performance at the VMAs was in 2010, when she performed "Innocent." The following year, Swift's rendition of Shake It Off at the VMAs was highly praised at the award show.

Four years later, Taylor appeared on the stage again in 2015 - this time alongside Nicki Minaj for a mashup of Bad Blood. In 2019, the Blank Space singer performed Lover and You Need To Calm Down.

Besides her performance, Swift has also gained spotlight at the VMAs for her announcements. In 2022, the singer announced her new album, Midnights, at the award show as she celebrated the 13th anniversary of winning her first VMA.