[Music] Taylor Swift's pal Jack anof has broken his silence after he was slammed by fans who spotted him plugging his ears during Katie Perry's VMAs performance on Wednesday the music producer who attended the ceremony with wife Margaret quelly in support of Swift and her seven wins took to X to address his critics antinoff confirmed that he did in fact use earlex as a precaution throughout the three-hour show that saw Perry and 15 other musicians take the stage he then launched into a sarcastic apology revealing to fans that he's a frequent wearer of earplugs and poking fun at his habit being exposed by online trolls antona began saying I would like to tell you directly from me that I did in fact use earplugs the other night they were blue Heroes brand and a mortified to admit that I've been using them for a long time as well as buying them in bulk he continued saying there's nothing left to do but apologize and thank those who've covered this story because although it is an embarrassment to my family and I I do believe that this was a very important and pressing issue that needed to be exposed he concluded the humorous post by noting that despite the faux controversy he and his band Bleachers have decided to keep all dates scheduled the backlash kicked off on X on Wednesday as a video surfaced of antinoff standing with his arm around his wife Margaret before raising his hands to his ears during Perry's 20-minute set meanwhile everyone else around the rocker could be seen dancing to Perry's live vocals including Swift Tyla and Suki water house