John Rich Defends Taylor Swift’s Curse Word at the VMAs

Taylor Swift raised more than a few eyebrows at Sunday night's (Aug. 25) VMAs ceremony, when with one word, she seemed to have tarnished her squeaky clean, good girl image. But another country artist is speaking out in defense of the 23-year-old.

Swift, who was sitting beside her close friend, Selana Gomez, appeared to have said "Shut the f--- up" when her ex-boyfriend, One Direction band member Harry Styles, was presenting an award. But while mouths flew open that the 'Everything Has Changed' singer would spew such foul language, one of country's own bad boys, John Rich, appears more amused than offended.

He responded with the following good-humored tweets.

Everybody's so shocked that @taylorswift13 would drop an F bomb. Might be a little redneck left in her somewhere after all! #vmas

— John Rich (@johnrich) August 27, 2013

Next thing we're going to see is @taylorswift13 with a cocktail...NO!!!!!!!! Hahaa! So funny to me...the girl earned her spot. Chill.

— John Rich (@johnrich) August 27, 2013

Swift may have quietly dissed Styles, but as usual, the songstress got the last word. While accepting her award for 'I Knew You Were Trouble,' she said, "Thank you. Wow. I want to thank the fans because I tweeted about this a lot, I really really wanted this."

She added, "I also want to thank the person that inspired this song, and he knows exactly who he is, because I got one of these!"

The song was released in the fall of 2012, around the same time Swift and Styles began dating. But in spite of her seeming public display of disdain, the two maintain they are still friends, and were even photographed together at the VMAs after party, where they were joined by her Red tour opening act Ed Sheeran and DJ Spiky Phil.