Fishy or friendly fun? Taylor Swift had a guest from under the sea join her on stage during her Saturday, July 25, concert in Foxborough, Mass. While she was singing her hit “Bad Blood,” one of her dancers popped up behind a glass panel dressed like a shark, causing Swift, 25, to laugh in the middle of her lyric.
@TSwiftOnTour @TSwiftNZ @taylorswift13 THERE WAS A SHARK DURING #BADBLOOD TODAY #BADBLOODSHARK pic.twitter.com/VXWetafdj6
— Jillian (@Swifty448) July 26, 2015
But when the video of the joke from fan @Swifty448 surfaced on Twitter, people immediately pointed to the shark as a dig at Swift’s rival Katy Perry. The “Firework” singer, 30, made headlines back in February when she had a buzzed-about Super Bowl performance, which featured two dancing sharks.
Since “Bad Blood” was written about a feud between Swift and Perry involving dancers Perry stole from Swift right before she went on tour, and Perry’s now-famous “Left Shark” was one of the dancers she allegedly nabbed, fans immediately thought the antics at the July 25 concert were a direct snub to Perry.
But a new video from the same Twitter fan shows that the shark’s appearance was part of a nightly prank from Swift’s dancers.
UGH MEDIA WHY ARE YOU POSTING ABOUT THE SHARK? IT WAS A PRANK! THERE WAS A LOBSTER SHOW 1 AND A SHARK SHOW 2! pic.twitter.com/7aIK7wBMaR
— Jillian (@Swifty448) July 27, 2015
“UGH MEDIA WHY ARE YOU POSTING ABOUT THE SHARK? IT WAS A PRANK! THERE WAS A LOBSTER SHOW 1 AND A SHARK SHOW 2!” @Swifty448 tweeted along with a video from the July 24 show in which the dancer popped up behind Swift with a dancing lobster.
The dancer, whose name is Christian Henderson, also Instagrammed a photo with his clawed pal on July 25, writing, “Meet the newest member of the Bad Blood squad. The Claw.”
Many thought Swift’s alleged “shark shade” was a response to Perry’s recent Twitter jab at the “Blank Space” singer on July 22.
Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman…
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) July 22, 2015
“Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman…,” Perry tweeted after online beef broke out between Swift and rapper Nicki Minaj over the MTV VMA nominations for Video of the Year.
Swift later apologized to Minaj, but never addressed Perry’s comment.