This weekend, Kim Kardashian ‘leaked’ a series of videos of the phone call between Kanye and Taylor — in which Kanye explains some of the controversial lyrics in his track “Famous.”Swift has now responded to allegations that she lied about not giving her approval.
The hashtag #KimExposedTaylorParty has been trending since Kim’s post showed that Kanye had disclosed the line, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex,” and Swift accepted it as “a compliment, kinda.” In the video, it’s weighed against another, unheard line, saying “Go with whatever line you think is better, it’s obviously tongue in cheek either way.”
The videos do allude to them having discussed some form of lyric about Kanye making Taylor famous, with Swift saying, “Yeah, I don’t think anyone would listen to that and be like oh that’s a real diss, she must be crying about it… You gotta tell the story the way that it happened to you and how you experienced it. It doesn’t matter if I sold seven million off that album before you did that, which is what happened. You didn’t know who I was before that, that’s fine.” Kayne says, “What I give a fuck about is is you as a person and a friend. I want things that make you feel good. I don’t wanna do rap that makes people feel bad… I just had a responsibility to you as a friend. Thanks for being so cool about it.”
Taylor had previously seemed upset about the suggestion Kanye made her famous, saying during her Grammys acceptance speech for album of the year, “There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and know that it was you.”
However, Taylor has posted on Twitter that what she took offense to was being called “that bitch” in the song, which is indeed what her team expressed concern about when the track was released — though they also seemed to suggest no phone call had taken place, or at least not one seeking her approval. Taylor’s team told Billboard in February: “Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single ‘Famous’ on her Twitter account. She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that bitch famous’.”
That moment when Kanye West secretly records your phone call, then Kim posts it on the Internet. pic.twitter.com/4GJqdyykQu
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) 18 July 2016
Responding to the leak, Swift writes, “Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me ‘that bitch’ in his song? It doesn’t exist because it never happened.” “You don’t get to control someone’s emotional response to being called ‘that bitch’ in front of the entire world,” she continues, adding that “You can’t approve a song you haven’t heard,” and branding any suggestion that she lied “character assassination.”
Taylor made no comment about her likeness appearing naked alongside Kim, Kanye, Rihanna, Caitlyn, Amber Rose, George Bush, Donald Trump, and more in the recently released video for “Famous,” below.
Credits
Text Charlotte Gush
Photography via Jana Zills