Fifteen years ago, a fresh-faced Taylor Swift wafted onto the stage at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to accept her Video Music Award for Best Female Video. “I’ve always dreamed about what it would be like to win one of these one day, but I never thought it would actually happen,” said Swift, the music video for “You Belong with Me” playing on the screen behind her.
The camera cut to an applauding Pink, wearing an outrageously high mohawk, for just long enough to miss Kanye West barreling toward Swift. The following clip—of West grabbing the microphone from Swift’s hands and proclaiming that “Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time”—has gone down in infamy, marking the genesis of a colossal feud between the scandal-ridden rapper and the reigning queen of pop.
