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Taylor Swift dominated the iHeartRadio Music Awards on Thursday — and helped save a hapless Vin Diesel in the process.
The 13th annual awards ceremony — held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles — suffered technical difficulties throughout the night as the red carpet livestream cut to presenters who were still preparing to go on air.
The Fast and the Furious star Diesel later appeared to present rapper Ludacris with the Landmark Award.
However, as he stood on stage, the 59-year-old actor admitted: “I literally can’t see the teleprompter. Where is it?”
The audience then pitched in to help him find the autocue, with Diesel asking, “There? It’s over there? It’s in the middle!”
Vin Diesel muddled through his presenting job at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards after being unable to locate the teleprompter (Getty)
Taylor Swift accepts the Pop Album of the Year award onstage during the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards (Getty)
On the broadcast, Swift — who was sat in the front row with her NFL star fiancé Travis Kelce — was among those pointing in the direction of the telemprompter.
“You guys are incredible,” Diesel said before addressing the pop music giant directly: “Thank you, Taylor.”
The Pacifier star continued to struggle through his lines as he presented the award before asking, “How’s that so far?”
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After the audience cheered in response, he added: “I’m literally crushing this. I gotta take all of you home, you guys are incredible.”
He went on to present the award to his longtime co-star and the host for the evening, Ludacris.
Swift went on to pick up a remarkable seven trophies on the night, including Artist of the Year and Best Pop Album for her acclaimed record, The Life of a Showgirl.
During one of her acceptance speeches, Swift offered poignant advice to aspiring artists, urging them to cultivate their craft away from the immediate scrutiny of the internet.
She recounted spending “thousands of hours” as a teenager honing her skills in private, making mistakes and learning from them. “I’m a firm believer that anything you feed your mind, it will internalize, and anything you feed the internet, it will attempt to kill,” she declared, clutching her Album of the Year trophy.
“And I don’t want that for your dreams.”
The pop superstar, wearing a seafoam green velvet corset and matching miniskirt, also secured awards for Song of the Year and Best Music Video for “The Fate of Ophelia.”
Olympic figure skating gold medallist Alysa Liu presented the Artist of the Year award, prompting Swift to express her admiration for Liu’s Olympic performance, stating: “You brought me so much happiness.”
You can find the full list of winners from this year’s iHeartRadio Music Awards here.