Taylor Swift uses Teen Choice Icon Award speech to urge fans to stand up for gender equality
Taylor Swift accepted the first-ever Icon Award at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards Sunday night, but first she honored Alex Morgan, the co-captain of the World-Cup-winning U.S. Women's National soccer team, who presented Swift's award.
"First I want to talk about Alex Morgan," said Swift. "The fact that she's here presenting this to me is such an honor. Not only winning the World Cup with her amazing teammates, right? But while they were winning the World Cup, they were also taking a historic stand in terms of gender equality, gender pay gaps. Please, please, please support her and her teammates because this isn't over yet. It's not resolved."
On top of Swift's insanely successful and record-breaking career, which includes over 50 million album sales, over 150 million single downloads, over 400 major awards, and the highest grossing U.S. tour in history, Swift has been using her platform to stand up for gender equality, including equal pay for men and women. During her acceptance speech Sunday, the icon continued to urge fans to speak up.
"Get online, talk about it, let people know how you feel about it because what happened to them is unfair," Swift continued. "It's happening everywhere, and they are heroes and icons for standing up."
Swift also took a moment to thank "whoever it was at the Teen Choice Awards who decided to put the itty bitty pretty kitty committee on this surfboard." If you're a fan of Swift, you know how much she adores her furry children, so the surfboard was kinda purr-fect, to say the least. In fact, Swift went as far as to say that it was her favorite award she's ever received, aesthetically speaking.
Swift then addressed her fans and took a minute to thank them for their support, before she told her teen fans, "One thing I wish I would have known when I was a teen is that mistakes are inevitable," said Swift. "I think sometimes you think if you try hard enough to make every decision perfectly, you think you can possibly ace life and never make any mistakes but, it is normal to make mistakes. I just want you to know that if you are out there and you are being really hard on yourself right now for something that has happened, or messing up, or feeling embarrassed, it's normal. That's what's going to happen to you in life. No one gets through unscathed. We're all going to have a few scratches on us."
Swift's speech was amazing, especially considering the fact that she was totally drunk the night before. Early Sunday morning, #DrunkTaylor was trending on Twitter, after a video of the pop star drunk-dancing went viral.
Full video of #drunktaylor dancing to #yntcd 😂💗 #taylorswift pic.twitter.com/TqIJghNco3
— we all got crowns (@lovercomingsoon) August 11, 2019
In fact, Swift herself took to Instagram Sunday with the caption: "we had so much fun that ‘Drunk Taylor’ is trending on Twitter. CHEERS."
A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on
Swift closed out her speech Sunday with some big news about her upcoming album, which drops Aug. 23.
"There's so much that I'm excited about coming up in the next 12 days until my album Lover comes out. The album comes out on August 23rd, but I wanted to tell you guys tonight that on the 16th, on Friday, I have a new song called 'Lover' that is coming out, and I'm so excited," said Swift.
Here are the complete list of winners at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards:
MOVIES
Choice Action Movie: Avengers: Endgame
Choice Action Movie Actor: Robert Downey Jr. – Avengers: Endgame
Choice Action Movie Actress: Scarlett Johansson – Avengers: Endgame
Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie: Aladdin
Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Actor: Will Smith – Aladdin
Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Actress: Naomi Scott – Aladdin
Choice Drama Movie: After
Choice Drama Movie Actor: Hero Fiennes Tiffin – After
Choice Drama Movie Actress: Josephine Langford – After
Choice Comedy Movie: Crazy Rich Asians
Choice Comedy Movie Actor: Noah Centineo – The Perfect Date
Choice Comedy Movie Actress: Laura Marano – The Perfect Date
Choice Movie Villain: Josh Brolin – Avengers: Endgame
Choice Summer Movie: Spider-Man: Far From Home
Choice Summer Movie Actor: Tom Holland – Spider-Man: Far From Home
Choice Summer Movie Actress: Zendaya – Spider-Man: Far From Home
TELEVISION
Choice Drama TV Show: Riverdale
Choice Drama TV Actor: Cole Sprouse – Riverdale
Choice Drama TV Actress: Lili Reinhart – Riverdale
Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show: Shadowhunters
Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actor: Jared Padalecki – Supernatural
Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress: Katherine McNamara – Shadowhunters
Choice Action TV Show: MacGyver
Choice Action TV Actor: Stephen Amell – Arrow
Choice Action TV Actress: Gabrielle Union – L.A.’s Finest
Choice Comedy TV Show: The Big Bang Theory
Choice Comedy TV Actor: Jaime Camil – Jane the Virgin
Choice Comedy TV Actress: Nina Dobrev – Fam
Choice TV Villain: Cameron Monaghan – Gotham
Choice Reality TV Show: America’s Got Talent
Choice Throwback TV Show: Friends
Choice Summer TV Show: Stranger Things
Choice Summer TV Actor: Noah Schnapp – Stranger Things
Choice Summer TV Actress: Millie Bobby Brown – Stranger Things
MUSIC
Choice Male Artist: Shawn Mendes
Choice Female Artist: Billie Eilish
Choice Music Group: Why Don’t We
Choice Country Artist: Dan + Shay
Choice Latin Artist: CNCO
Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Artist: Cardi B
Choice Rock Artist: Panic! At the Disco
Choice Song: Female Artist: Lauren Jauregui – “Expectations”
Choice Song: Male Artist: Louis Tomlinson – “Two of Us”
Choice Song: Group: BLACKPINK – “DDU-DU DDU-DU”
Choice Pop Song: Ariana Grande – “thank u, next”
Choice Country Song: Dan + Shay – “Speechless”
Choice Electronic/Dance Song: Ellie Goulding, Diplo, & Red Velvet – “Close to Me (Red Velvet Remix)”
Choice Latin Song: CNCO – “Pretend”
Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Song: Lil Nas X (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) – “Old Town Road [Remix]”
Choice Rock Song: Panic! At the Disco – “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”
Choice Breakout Artist: Billie Eilish
Choice International Artist: BTS
Choice Collaboration: BTS (feat. Halsey) – “Boy With Luv”
Choice Summer Song: “Se?orita” – Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
Choice Summer Female Artist
Halsey
Choice Summer Male Artist: Shawn Mendes
Choice Summer Group: Jonas Brothers
Choice Summer Tour: BTS – “BTS World Tour Love Yourself: Speak Yourself Tour”
Choice Song From A Movie
“A Whole New World” (End Title) (from Aladdin ) – Zayn & Zhavia Ward
Choice Ship: Lili Reinhart & Cole Sprouse – Riverdale
Choice Comedian: Ethan & Grayson Dolan
Choice Male Athlete: Stephen Curry
Choice Female Athlete: Serena Williams
DIGITAL
Choice Female Web Star: Emma Chamberlain
Choice Male Web Star: David Dobrik
Choice Comedy Web Star: The Dolan Twins
Choice Social Star: Noah Centineo
Choice Fashion/Beauty Web Star: Hannah Meloche
Choice Gamer: PewDiePie
Choice YouTuber: Sam and Colby
Choice Fandom: #BTSARMY
Choice Music Web Star: Annie LeBlanc
Teen Choice Take Note Award – Presented by Crayola
Kayva Kopparapu
Sebastian and Brandon Martinez
Marsai Martin
Leon “Kida” Burns (Kida the Great)
Celai West
Braxton Moral
Mari Copeny
Logan Guleff
The 2019 Teen Choice Awards aired Sunday, August 11th at 8 p.m. on Fox.
Check out the ‘BH90210’ series premiere, which had fans both crying and confused:
Read more from Yahoo! Entertainment:
‘Bachelor in Paradise’ plot twist as contestant posts incriminating texts
Why Scott Disick’s ‘Flip It Like Disick’ has his high-profile family asking for favors
Will Ferrell pulls off epic late-night stunt appearing on every show as Ron Burgundy
Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle's newsletter.