Did Taylor Swift disrespect Céline Dion at the 2024 Grammys? We investigated the incident

By Abby Amoakuh

Published Feb 7, 2024 at 04:31 PM

Reading time: 2 minutes

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Did Taylor Swift blank Céline Dion at the 2024 Grammys? Let’s find out why some fans have criticised Swift for seemingly disrespecting the iconic 55-year-old singer when accepting the award for Album Of The Year.

After footage of the ‘My Heart Will Go On’ singer handing Swift the Album Of The Year award went viral, some netizens pointed out that the Midnights winner didn’t acknowledge Dion with a greeting or eye contact, instead quickly turning around to celebrate the moment with her collaborators.

Dion is widely considered one of the greatest vocalists and pop artists in recent history. Moreover, her surprise appearance at the 2024 Grammys was incredibly emotional due to the singer having recently announced that she’d been diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease that most commonly causes muscle stiffness and painful spasms.

Therefore, the possibility that Swift had knowingly ignored Dion’s presence sat badly with a lot of netizens:

Page Six reported that an insider source noted that Céline was able to shake the incident off: “I don’t think Céline cared and they talked backstage afterwards,” the source said. “But Céline was just gracious and happy to be there,” the insider added, “Of course, the right thing would have been for Taylor to acknowledge her like Adele did years ago.”

When Dion presented the award for Song of the Year to Adele in 2017, for the ballad ‘Hello’, Adele approached the iconic legend with the utmost respect and humility. Adele even made an “I’m not worthy” hand motion to the singer and hugged her before taking her trophy.

Adele has frequently used the Grammy stage as a platform to endorse and celebrate other artists. When she won the award for Album Of The Year that same night, she infamously used her speech to celebrate Beyoncé’s album Lemonade.

“I can’t possibly accept this award. And I’m very humbled, and I’m very grateful and gracious, but my artist of my life is Beyoncé,” Adele stated. “This album was so monumental, and so well-thought-out and so beautiful and soul-bearing… and all us artists here, we f*cking adore you,” the singer continued.

The heartfelt acknowledgement had the crowd roaring and even brought Beyoncé to tears as she mouthed “I love you” to Adele.

Beyoncé, in turn, has also infamously used her stage time to endorse Swift—specifically after Kanye West snubbed her at the 2009 Video Music Awards. After West rudely interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech, in one of the most talked about pop culture moments of all time, Beyoncé memorably invited Swift onstage.

In an industry that is frequently criticised for being isolating and overly competitive, acceptance speeches are not just a moment to reflect on one’s own accomplishments, but also to shout out the artists who paved the way, or aren’t taking trophies home.

Swift still found a way to acknowledge Dion by taking a picture with the singer backstage. There is also a theory spreading online that the artist might have been told not to touch Dion, due to her illness.

“I’m willing to bet that Taylor was told not to touch Céline Dion. Stiff person syndrome can be triggered by noise, stress, and touch,” one user noted.

Another commented: “Stop this stupid narrative. Taylor hung out with Céline afterwards. Céline also has a painful neurological disease which makes touch very painful.” A third fan wrote: “Céline Dion has a medical condition—Taylor couldn’t touch her. Céline backed away before Taylor could have hugged her.”

Either way, perhaps Swift was so overjoyed to be the first person in history to win this particular award four times that she wanted to shout out her team first, before acknowledging the legendary artist in a calmer setting behind the stage? Just a theory.