Selena Gomez looked noticeably concerned during Olivia Rodrigo’s performance at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards.
Rodrigo opened Tuesday night’s awards show with a mash-up of songs from her new album, “Guts.”
However, midway through her performance of “Vampire,” it appeared the 20-year-old singer’s set started to collapse.
As Rodrigo crossed the stage, a red drape fell from the rafters and sparks started to fly, prompting a man to run out and redirect the Grammy winner.
Amid the chaos, the camera panned to Gomez, who looked horrified about the situation unfolding in front of her.
The “Single Soon” singer’s eyes went wide and she raised her hand to her temple as Rodrigo exited the stage and the lights went out.
However, it appears the jarring moment was actually planned and Rodrigo returned to the stage for the second half of her performance.
Soon after, a photo of Gomez’s worried expression went viral on Twitter. Many people assumed the “Calm Down” singer was being shady towards Rodrigo – given the young star’s rumored feud with her BFF, Taylor Swift.
“Not Selena Gomez covering her ears during Olivia Rodrigo performance😭,” one person tweeted, while a second user wrote, “Selena being weird towards Nicki [Minaj] and Olivia.. but she’s supposedly the ’nice innocent girl’ that’s an EVIL mean girl.”
Other fans were quick to defend Gomez, adding context for anyone that wasn’t watching the awards show live.
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“this is very out of context. selena was worried olivia’s set was actually falling apart and that’s why she had that reaction. stop trying to pit them against each other,” one person tweeted alongside a video of the incident.
“This is completely unfair and out of context: Olivia pretended to have her set break down and semi-explode as she was fake rushed off stage, and Selena was reacting to that, probably thinking something was really going wrong,” another added.
Prior to the incident, both women stunned on the red carpet, with Gomez wearing a busty red dress and six figures worth of diamonds.
The actress, 31, put on a leggy display in the low-cut Oscar de la Renta dress, which featured a high slit and red beaded flowers.
Meanwhile, Rodrigo dazzled in a glittery silver Ludovic de Saint Sernin dress which hugged her curves in all the right places.
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