Apparently not even a global pandemic is enough to inspire Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian West—and their respective fan bases—to mend fences. Over the weekend a leaked video reopened an old wound between the two—a disagreement over Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo track “Famous.” And although both Swift and Kardashian West have made it clear that they know there are more important things going on in the world right now, neither could resist claiming the new video as a victory.
In the 2016 song, Kanye West raps that he and Swift “might still have sex” because he “made that bitch famous.” Through her publicist, Swift claimed at the time that West never asked for approval of the lyric, and that she had “cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message.” West countered that Swift had, indeed, given him her blessing. Months later, Kardashian West posted a piece of the pair’s conversation on Snapchat—prompting widespread backlash against Swift as social media users flooded her accounts with snake emojis and branded her a liar.
The new video, which appears to capture the conversation pretty much in full, offers, if nothing else, a better understanding of the miscommunication between the two. But fans of both Swift and Kardashian West have continued to dig in their heels—and it appears neither star could resist trying to get the last word.
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Swift responded to the leaked video first on Monday night on her Instagram story.
“Instead of answering those who are asking how I feel about video footage that was leaked, proving that I was telling the truth the whole time about *that call* (you know, the one that was illegally recorded, that somebody edited and manipulated in order to frame me and put me, my family, and fans through hell for 4 years),” the pop star wrote, “Swipe up to see what really matters.”
The next post tells fans that Swift has been donating to the World Health Organization, as well as Feeding America—and urges anyone who is able to do the same. Swift has been credited with using the conflict to solicit aid for these organizations, while hashtags including #TaylorToldTheTruth and #KanyeWestIsOverParty trended on Twitter. But it’s worth noting that Swift’s posts were shrewd in another way as well. Just like they drew media attention toward those donation pages, they also allowed her to get her point across in the process—while providing her cover to do so without being criticized for doing so at such a perilous time.
Swift’s statement apparently did not sit well with Kardashian West, who responded late Monday on both Twitter and Instagram.
“I didn’t feel the need to comment a few days ago, and I’m actually really embarrassed and mortified to be doing it right now, but because she continues to speak on it, I feel I’m left without a choice but to respond because she is actually lying,” Kardashian West wrote.
“To be clear, the only issue I ever had around the situation was that Taylor lied through her publicist who stated that ‘Kanye never called to ask for permission...,’” Kardashian West added. “They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word ‘bitch’ was used without her permission.”
Kardashian West continued: “At the time when they spoke the song had not been fully written yet, but as everyone can see in the video, she manipulated the truth of their actual conversation in her statement when her team said she ‘declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message.’ The lie was never about the word bitch, It was always whether there was a call or not and the tone of the conversation.”
“This will be the last time I speak on this because honestly, nobody cares,” Kardashian West concluded. “Sorry to bore you all with this. I know you are all dealing with more serious and important matters.”
At this point, with both sides of the feud so deeply entrenched, reconciliation seems impossible. And frankly, the world has bigger things to worry about—so let’s hope that this is the last we hear from both camps on this issue. After all, in the immortal words of Kardashian West’s sister, Kourtney, “There’s people that are dying.”
