Nelly Says Taylor Swift Paid Him $50,000 for Surprise Performance at Her 2011 Concert, Reveals Other Perks She Gave Him

Nelly is opening up about his surprise performances at Taylor Swift concerts in the past and the perks she gave him for making the appearances.

While most fans probably thought that the surprise acts appeared for free at Taylor‘s concerts, Nelly has revealed that he was actually paid a one-time appearance fee for one of those shows!

In a new interview with The Breakfast Club, Nelly opened up about performing at a 2011 show in Houston with Taylor during the Speak Now World Tour. He later appeared with Taylor again at the Red Tour in 2013 and then at the 1989 World Tour in St. Louis in 2015, as pictured above.

What Nelly said about being paid by Taylor Swift

“I’ve known her for a long time. Her pops, her management,” Nelly said.

He continued, “I’m gonna tell you what really threw me, right? She called me one night, just out of the blue, and said, ‘Yo, Nelly, listen, me and my friends, we made a routine to ‘Hot in Herre’ last night and I wanna ask you a really big favor.’ Now, I’m in St. Louis, and she’s in Houston. She said, ‘I got two shows in Houston tomorrow and the next day. Can you come down to Houston and just perform it? I don’t wanna disrespect you. I don’t really have a budget like that.’”

“Now, listen to her. She says she doesn’t really have a budget. But she said, ‘What I will do is send my plane. I’ll get your room and all of that. And we only have like $50,000.’ I said, ‘Can you put that in a McDonald’s bag?’ I said, ‘But I would’ve done it for free,’” Nelly said.

Nelly said that Taylor sent a G5 private plane to transport him to the show and back.

“The plane picked me and the kids up and flew us down to Houston because she was doing three or four nights at the baseball stadium, with 56,000 people. They had them rammed in there!” Nelly said. “We did it, and she was like, ‘Yo, three minutes, three minutes!’ Her [manager Robert Allen] comes out and tosses me a McDonald’s bag with $50,000 in cash. I was like, ‘Oh, no ***! Okay, cool.’ Now, the money wasn’t really the issue. But she was just like, ‘Yo, the jet is there whenever you’re ready.’ And she got us the presidential suite right there. I think it was the Four Seasons, right there by the stadium. Had the whole top floor. We never even saw the room. We went from the show right back to the airport, or whatever the case may be.”

Nelly and Taylor performed “Just a Dream” at the 2011 show, “Hey Porsche” at the 2013 show, and “Hot in Herre” at the 2015 show.

Did you know that Nelly has a TV show coming soon to streaming>

Posted To:Music Nelly Taylor Swift