Billboard’s current actions have resurfaced Taylor Swift and Kanye West’s age-old feud, and Swifties are not having it.
The outlet crowned the billionaire icon rank 2 on ‘The Greatest Pop Stars of the Century,’ list on November 26, making it a triumphant moment for Swift. However, in reference to this honor, Billboard re-posted a clip from Kanye West’s 2016 controversial song, ‘Famous,’ that sparked a feud between the singers.
Billboard post and delete “Famous” clip on IG
W trolling 😭 pic.twitter.com/tEJJtHkxiZ
— GoodAssSub (@GoodAssSub) November 27, 2024
Swifties were outraged at this decision to post a clip from a music video that was a public insult to their idol. Moreover, the outlet’s decision to post the now-deleted clip seemed strange because Swift did not collaborate with Ye on the track. Fans put the outlet on blast by taking to their X accounts to express their disbelief and call out their derogatory attention-grabbing tactics.
Fans slam Billboard for using controversial clip
One fan said, “Okay, Billboard’s intention was to recap everything that happened in her entire career, i get that. But was it really necessary to include THAT scene? Just nasty, disrespectful, and unprofessional.”
‘THAT scene’ refers to a portion of the video where a Taylor look-alike doll was placed on a huge bed n*ked, beside several other lookalike dolls of famous personalities like President Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Anna Wintour, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Ray J, Amber Rose, Caitlyn Jenner, and Bill Cosby. The video sparked unbridled controversy that lasted several years.
Another fan wrote, “Using a revenge pic in a video which is supposed to highlight Taylor Swift’s career, Chris Brown’s violence in an article about Rihanna, bringing up Britney’s conservatorship abuse and Nicki Minaj’s beef just shows that billboard is misogynistic asf. #BillboardIsOverParty. The user said that the outlet posted these sensitive topics to gain traction.
using a revenge porn pic in a video which is supposed to highlight taylor swift’s career, chris brown’s violence in an article about rihanna, bringing up britney’s conservatorship abuse and nicki minaj’s beefs just shows that billboard is misogynistic asf. #BillboardIsOverParty pic.twitter.com/CU3PT3gyAd
— . (@selovelenaa) November 27, 2024
A third fan expressed, “I’m so deeply disgusted and disappointed #BillboardIsOverParty”
An X user also highlighted that Billboard’s attempt to highlight a successful woman’s career by stuffing in a man who caused controversy and trauma in her life is pathetic. The user wrote, “Highly unprofessional of them to use a clip from THAT video while highlighting her career… Talk about a womans career without bringing men into it specially the ones who did her dirty, alright billboard?? #BillboardIsOverParty”
Highly unprofessional of them to use a clip from THAT video while highlighting her career… Talk about a womans career without bringing men into it specially the ones who did her dirty, alright billboard?? #BillboardIsOverParty pic.twitter.com/hJUM68kU9z
— Jessalyn🧸 (@jessuiscalme) November 27, 2024
Another user pointed out that Billboard had months to prepare a 60-second video to honor the 14-time Grammy winner’s pristine career, and they decided to use that clip. The post read, “no bc imagine you have literally like what? 60 seconds to capture THE TAYLOR SWIFT 18 years of legacy. you have months to prepare it. it’s going through several hands and approvals. your top charting artist. and you do THIS? nastier than we can comprehend #billboardisoverparty”
no bc imagine you have literally like what? 60 seconds to capture THE TAYLOR SWIFT 18 years of legacy. you have months to prepare it. it’s going through several hands and approvals. your top charting artist. and you do THIS? nastier than we can comprehend #billboardisoverparty pic.twitter.com/3ONy4ZSAMJ
— paulina 🪶 (@foreverwwinter) November 27, 2024
Billboard publically apologizes
After the public backlash, Billboard immediately took the post down and issued a public apology through X.
The post read, “We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift’s achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her. We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error.”
We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift’s achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her. We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error.
— billboard (@billboard) November 28, 2024
Several of the ‘Bad Blood’ singers’ fan pages swarmed to comment beneath the post with one writing, “It isn’t an error btw, an error could be including a wrong pic or adding a wrong number or those basic things but you guys added a revenge p*rn to the video talking about her achievements which is unnecessary + you did it with other artists like Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna.. You don’t have to bring up women’s traumas every change you get also if you guys hate female artists and hate to see them succeed just don’t talk about them? It’s not that easy.”
Another fan page commented, “Karma is coming we will wait and see #BillboardIsOverParty,” referencing the pop icon’s hit track ‘Karma.’
Kanye West and Taylor Swift’s feud
Their feud began at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when West interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech, claiming Beyoncé deserved the award. Swift was 19 at the time.
Though he apologized, tensions resurfaced in 2016 with his song “Famous,” where he referenced Swift in a derogatory manner. After he came under heat for the portrayal, the ‘Heartless’ rapper claimed that he took permission from the ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ singer before using it, which Swift outright denied.
However, Ye’s then-wife, Kim Kardashian posted a video of the conversation where her husband was allegedly asking the ‘Don’t Blame Me’ singer permission. This led to public spats and divided fan opinions.
In 2020, additional leaked audio supporting Swift’s claims surfaced, proving once and for all that she was right all along.