Promoters have denied two concert-goers' claim they were kicked out of a Taylor Swift gig for wearing masks of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
Friends Dan and Chris travelled to Manchester for the star’s performance at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and decided to dress for the occasion in ‘You Can’t Sit With Us’ T-shirts and face masks of the celebrity couple.
It was in reference to a long-running feud between Swift and West that started at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
West famously ran on stage while Swift was accepting the award for Best Female Video to declare that Beyonce should have won for Single Ladies because she “had one of the best videos of all time”.
Dan, of Newcastle, and Chris, 44, of the Staiths, Gateshead, paid £132 each for the Etihad gig but say they did not even get to see the 28-year-old American perform.
Despite sitting through support acts Camila Cabello and Charli XCX, the pair claim they were told to leave before Swift came on stage.
Dan, 32, said: “We had an argument for around an hour and a half, with staff and the police.
“We were originally told it was due to us bumping into people and being drunk.
“I don't think the security that kicked us out were the security for the ground. No-one seemed to know who they were.”
And Dan believes it was Swift’s orders to have them escorted out.
“We were told it was her request for us to be moved prior to her coming on stage,” he said.
“We were specifically told she would not come on until we had been ejected.
“The masks were intended to be destroyed during her song Look What You Made Me Do. That was the whole point.
“We wanted to be noticed. Turns out it wasn’t how we wanted to be noticed.”
A spokesperson for promoters Live Nation Concerts said that Dan and Chris were removed from the gig because of their behaviour, not their masks.
They told Chronicle Live: “Two men ages 44 and 32 were ejected from the venue by stadium security for being drunk and disorderly and for their inappropriate behaviour to the other concert goers in their vicinity.”
The feud between West and Swift was re-ignited in 2016 when the rapper released his track Famous which contained the line, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex ... why? I made that b***h famous”.
He said he ran the lyrics past Swift first but her camp strongly denied this.
The Etihad, and RCA Records have also been contacted for comment on the incident.
