The Post talks with OU student Dakota Gerard, who gained fame after cameras caught him supposedly giving side-eye to Taylor Swift at the AMAs.
The camera loves to focus on Taylor Swift in the crowd during award show performances for both simple reaction shots to the spectacle and for her notorious audience-dancing shenanigans. But at this year’s American Music Awards on Nov. 23, an Ohio University student eclipsed Swift’s audience-cam fame.
Dakota Gerard, a senior studying video production, sat behind Swift, Selena Gomez and Lorde during the show. Gomez performed her new song “The Heart Wants What It Wants,” which moved Swift to tears. While some only noticed Swift’s sadness as she clapped for her friend, others noticed the reaction of the person, Gerard, behind her who looked more skeptical than touched.
The Post caught up with Gerard, who is taking part in the School of Media Arts and Studies' Semester in LA program, to find out more about the moment that turned him into an Internet sensation.
The Post: How did you get to be at the AMAs?
Dakota Gerard: We’ve had a lot of cool opportunities while in LA. A lot of alumni have hooked us up to cool shows. So, we got to be seat fillers for the AMAs. You sit near celebrities so when the camera pans to the audience, it doesn’t look like there are empty seats.
The Post: What was your reaction to your seat?
DG: We actually got to sit in the theater while waiting to move into the front rows and take a celebrity’s seat. I first sat a couple seats down from Taylor and those people for one section. Then a commercial break came and I had to move, so they moved me to the seat right behind her. I got to sit there for rest of the show. I luckily got that seat and sat through the rest of show in second row behind Taylor Swift, Lorde and Selena Gomez.
The Post: How did the side-eye look happen? Were you looking at Taylor Swift or something/ someone else?
DG: The side-eye thing was actually really funny. That was one of the first times I saw myself on screen. It was right at end of the Selena Gomez song. I just happened to look at monitors next to the stage to see what the cameras were seeing. All of a sudden, I noticed I was on screen because they cut to a shot of Taylor Swift crying. I saw myself and tried to shift my eyes. So that’s what happened with the whole shifty eye thing.
The Post: So you weren’t just channeling Sam Smith from the VMAs earlier this year?
DG: No, I wasn’t. I meant no disrespect. I promise.
The Post: When did you realize your reaction started becoming popular?
DG: It was really cool because after the event, we talked about all the cool people we sat next to. … I was just talking about how cool it was to sit right next to the action and people wondered if I was in any of the shots. We looked and there were pictures already up on The Hollywood Reporter, Seventeen Magazine. Pretty much right after we sat down to get food after the performance, we saw people making jokes and noticing me behind Taylor.
The Post: What is it like being known as “the guy who gave side-eye to Taylor Swift” and being transformed into gifs?
DG: The event itself was a really cool experience, and I feel like it was one of the highlights of the trip, in terms of leisure. The fact that it was immortalized for me was really cool. People from my hometown messaged me, saying ‘What is Dakota doing at the AMAs?’ … It was cool to kind of see this stuff come out and be in the background of all these published photos. … All these different photographers just crowded Taylor since she was one of the most important people there that night. I was just in great position where I was in most publicity shots for evening.
The Post: How long do you think your fame will last?
DG: This was a couple weeks ago now. It first started happening that night. The next day, I was getting tons of different things on Facebook and Twitter and people texting me. That first day after was insane. There was gif of me doing side-eye and a ton of people latching on to that, and I’m like ‘Oh, I’m a gif already.’ And just this past week, people are messaging because they just made a Buzzfeed article then a couple other places asked to interview me. I don’t know if it’s going to make it to a meme. I think it would be hilarious if I was a meme. It would just be ridiculous. I hope I could make it to meme status. That would probably be a peak in life.
The Post: Do you find it at all ironic that you are in the Media Arts and Studies school and have now become a media phenomenon of your own?
DG: It’s kind of funny … in the way that from the media school, where all kinds of us care about televised stuff and what artists are doing, I got this mini sense of fame from that kind of interaction. It doesn’t directly relate to my studies at the media school because I’m more on the TV/ film side, but the whole event was brought together by links we have at the media school.
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The Post: Besides the AMAs, what has been the most memorable moment from your semester in LA?
DG: This program is in its first year, so it’s cool to be out here doing this in the first place. On a program that’s in its first year, you don’t know what to expect but our professors … have really put together an awesome program, and we’ve gotten to do so many cool events and shows. We were at the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve performance the night before. If you look at the audience during the LA performance, you see me and couple other people dancing awkwardly to Charlie XCX and other people. We’ve gotten to do a bunch of tours of studios like Warner Bros. and Universal. A lot of cool show tapings we’ve gotten to go to. Some cool stuff on own time like going to the beaches. We just went to Disneyland yesterday. As well as the classes are really cool. We’ve talked to a bunch of different speakers and alumni. Produced a pilot and a podcast.
The Post: One final question, do you think you’ll become a Taylor Swift song now? If so, what do you think it would be called?
DG: Oh man, that and a meme would be the pinnacle of success from that night. Granted I’m with her for only a short time, which I guess is as long as a relationship with Taylor is. I only said ‘Hi’ once. I don’t’ know if she can base a song on that and the side-eye. If she did write a song about me, it would be something with the side-eye. It has become my middle name these past couple weeks.
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