Gwen Stefani gets called out for not performing live at AMAs: ‘We’ve been lied to’

Stefani and husband Blake Shelton’s pre-taped performances caused confusion and anger among some viewers who expected a fully live show.

Gwen Stefani’s performance for the 2025 American Music Awards in Las Vegas.Credit: Christopher Polk/Penske Media via Getty

Gwen Stefani and husband Blake Shelton are receiving criticism from some viewers in the audience at Monday’s 2025 American Music Awards for performing via pre-taped segments, rather than live on stage at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

“‘Gwen Stefani live at the AMAs’… the live view,” one viewer wrote on TikTok over a video of Stefani performing a medley of hits from her Love. Angel. Music. Baby. album on a big screen above the stage where AMAs crew appeared to be preparing for the next live segment. “We’ve been lied to 😭” user @alywinder concluded, adding in the caption, “Why would they say performing live when they aren’t even here??”

Shelton is facing similar scrutiny, with one viewer sharing a video of the country artist performing his new song “Stay Country or Die Tryin’” on the big screen while members of a band sat silently on stage beneath. “When Blake Shelton is ‘performing’ at the A M A Awards but there is no sign of Blake Shelton in sight 🫠,” user @savewithfelix wrote.

A rep for the AMAs declined Entertainment Weekly‘s request for comment; reps for Stefani and Shelton did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

While intermixing live segments with pre-taped performances is standard practice at award shows at the scale of the American Music Awards, the ceremony was repeatedly promoted as a live, coast-to-coast broadcast.

EW has confirmed that Stefani and Shelton’s performances were the only pre-tapes of the evening, with other honorees and award winners such as Benson Boone, Lainey Wilson, Gloria Estefan, Reneé Rapp, Rod Stewart, Becky G, Manuel Turizo, and Icon Award recipient Janet Jackson all performing live.

Stefani shared numerous posts promoting her AMAs performance in the lead up to Monday’s ceremony, teasing that she intended to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her bestselling solo album debut. She shared a montage of clips captioned “rehearsal” on Sunday set to the Sweet Escape hit “Wind It Up,” and has broken down her AMAs performance in three posts shared in the past 24 hours.

Though neither Stefani nor Shelton have addressed their absences from the show, Stefani also shared a carousel of photos on Monday celebrating the birthday of Kingston, her son with ex Gavin Rossdale. “Kingston, u changed my life forever. we love u so much. happy birthday 💫💙,” she wrote.

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton’s performances at the 2025 American Music Awards in Las Vegas.Christopher Polk/Penske Media via Getty (2)

Another of the 2025 AMAs live performers was Jennifer Lopez, who was also tapped to host the ceremony. Lopez previously emceed the AMAs in 2015, and has performed on over 10 editions of the awards show.

The pop superstar pulled off eight costume changes while switching between announcing the evening’s buzzy presenters and performing hits like “Dance Again.” Billie Eilish won artist of the year but was not present to accept the award.

— With reporting from Joey Nolfi