Taylor Swift delivered a "shut the f--- up" heard (and GIFed) 'round the world at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, and considering she'd dissed her ex, One Direction hottie Harry Styles, that night, the world assumed she was talking to him. After all, he was onstage when she said it, so it's not some grand leap of gossip logic, right?

But as it turns out, her "STFU" wasn't directed at Hazza at all -- and was actually pretty sweet. No, really! Here's what actually went down.

Swift's platonic pal Ed Sheeran explained that T-Swizzle was actually saying "shut the f--- up" to her BFF Selena Gomez ... but because 1D were onstage, of course the camera was going to zoom in on Swift at some point, knowing about her and Styles' shortlived but much-hyped "Haylor" history.

According to Sheeran, "Selena said, 'I think Miley's gonna win,' and Taylor was like, 'Shut the f--- up!' That's all that was!"

Sheeran added that Swift was embarrassed by the hullabaloo surrounding her rare moment of profanity and humanity, telling him, "I think I messed up!" But oddly enough, this just makes us like her more.

Now, as for her acceptance speech? Considering 'I Knew You Were Trouble' has long been rumored to be about Styles, we're going to assume that particular dig was deliberate.

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