This is actually what we came for! Calvin Harris didn’t thank Taylor Swift, obviously, in his acceptance speech at the 2016 MTV VMAs for cowriting his hit song “This Is What You Came For” after he won for Best Male Video.
Although the DJ couldn’t attend the ceremony at NYC’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday, August 28, he recorded a video message for the crowd. He thanked Rihanna, who is featured on the track, but noticeably forgot to mention his ex-girlfriend Swift, who confirmed last month that she secretly wrote the lyrics and sang backup on the song.
“Wow, wow! First of all, I’m so sorry I can’t be there. I have a show tonight in the U.K. or else I would definitely be there. MTV, this is crazy,” Harris said in the clip. “I need to thank Rihanna from the bottom of my heart. You’re a superstar. Every time we worked together, you bring something so magical to the project, so thank you.”
He went on to thank Emil Nava, who directed the video, and “everybody who’s supported this song, who’s watched this video” with no mention of the mastermind behind the lyrics.
As previously reported, Harris and Swift called it quits in June after 15 months of dating. The “Wildest Dreams” singer, 26, penned “This Is What You Came For” under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg, her rep confirmed to Us Weekly. Harris later explained that it was Swift’s choice to keep their collaboration under wraps and slammed her on Twitter, saying that she was trying to make him “look bad.”
“Hurtful to me at this point that her and her team would go so far out of their way to try and make ME look bad at this stage though,” he tweeted. “I figure if you’re happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of trying to tear your ex bf down for something to do,” he said of her new, whirlwind relationship with Tom Hiddleston.
