Taylor Swift found a good friend in her tour’s opening act, Ed Sheeran, when he explained the truth behind Taylor’s “f-bomb” outburst at last Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards.

As Harry Styles, Swift’s tumultuous ex-boyfriend, and his band, One Direction, took the stage to accept an award at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Swift said, “Shut the f*** up!” The statement was caught on camera, which Swift soon realized.

Taylor quickly figured out that anyone who heard this may see it as her latest jab at Styles. However, Sheeran said at a press conference recently that Taylor approached him as soon as the episode was over and said, “I think I messed up.”

Sheeran relayed that Swift was not talking about, or to, Styles or One Direction with her lewd comment; rather, BFF Selena Gomez had just confessed to Swift that she thought Miley Cyrus would take home the award for Best Pop Video, for which Gomez was also a contender. Swift then said, “Shut the f*** up!” to Gomez as a sign of support.

Gomez also refused to comment on such rumors, telling one brazen reporter, “Don’t try that with me,” when he tried to lure Selena into a trap of gossiping about girlfriends.

Nevertheless, One Direction definitely wasn’t too happy about the comment, although Styles, Swift and Sheeran sat together at an after-party later that night. Sheeran describes himself as the common dominator for Swift and Styles now, as a mutual friend of both. (Harry and Taylor dated for a couple of months in 2012 but broke up after a reportedly terrible trip to the Virgin Islands in January.)

Image courtesy Eva Rinaldini via Wikimedia Commons.