Was she or wasn’t she? Laverne Cox doesn’t believe Taylor Swift was that intoxicated during her viral #DrunkTaylor moment from her recent MTV Video Music Awards nominations party.
“She did not seem drunk to me! Some people do not need to get drunk to have fun,” Cox, 35, told Access Hollywood in an interview published on Friday, August 16.
In celebration of her 10 VMA nods, the “ME!” singer, 29, hosted a party in Los Angeles on Saturday, August 10. Many of the guests were Swift’s famous friends from her “You Need to Calm Down” music video, which was nominated for seven awards, including Video of the Year and Song of the Year. Those names included Cox, Hannah Hart, HAIM, Hayley Kiyoko and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum A’Keria Davenport.
After the bash, Swift went viral for several Instagram Stories posted by Davenport of the songstress tearing up the dance floor and belting out the lyrics to “You Need to Calm Down” when the song came on at her party. The moment led to the trending hashtag #DrunkTaylor, which Swift poked fun of in an Instagram caption the next day.
“Threw a party to celebrate with the people who made the ME! & [You Need to Calm Down] videos with me — and we had so much fun that ‘Drunk Taylor’ is trending on Twitter,” the 10-time Grammy winner captioned a Sunday, August 11, Instagram post.
Though Cox doubts Swift was as drunk as the internet believes, that doesn’t mean the two didn’t have a wild night.
“I was sweating. My hair, it started out really cute and it got really hot and my hair just kind of did a weird thing,” Cox said. “So I had to let people know that I was sweating in this moment. So my hair started like this, and it ended up like this, but it’s fine because we were having fun.”
As for her own sober status, Cox said, “I certainly was not drunk. I had a Smirnoff cocktail. I drank responsibly. And we had a lovely, lovely time. You don’t have to be drunk to have fun. Kids, you don’t have to drink.”
Cox was one of many celebrities and LGBTQ activists to star in Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” music video, which was released on June 2019 to coincide with Pride Month.
In April 2019, Swift donated $113,000 to the LGBTQ organization, the Tennessee Equality Project. Along with her donation, Swift wrote a note to thank the charity for inspiring her. The note was later shared on Facebook by the foundation’s executive director Chris Sanders.
“Dear Chris, I’m writing you to say that I’m so inspired by the work you do, specifically in organizing the recent petition of Tennessee faith leaders standing up against the ‘slate of hate’ in our state legislature,” Swift wrote. “Please convey my heartfelt thanks to them and accept this donation to support the work you and these leaders are doing.”
