LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kim Kardashian recently took to Instagram to post an old comedy sketch video for Snapchat that was originally considered an alleged dig at Taylor Swift. While the SKIMS founder shared the clip to wish her family friend Harry Hudson on his birthday, it was initially created around the time when Kardashian got entangled in the longstanding feud between her then-husband Kanye West and Swift.
In the footage, Kardashian could be seen ordering her star-studded team around before asking one of them to play some music. Shortly after, West’s ‘Famous’ could be heard playing in the background of the video. The track is known for fuelling the major Swift vs Kanye beef over the “I made that b*tch famous” lyrics and bringing Kardashian into the picture. At one point, Kardashian could be heard saying she is married to ‘Pablo', a reference to West’s album ‘The Life Of Pablo', which contains the song ‘Famous'.
When did the Taylor Swift vs Kim Kardashian-Kanye West feud begin?
Swift’s feud with West and Kardashian dates back to 2009 when West appeared onstage to cut off Swift’s speech after she won the Best Female Video for ‘You Belong With Me’ at the MTV Video Music Awards. West took the mic from Swift’s hand and said he would let her finish before saying Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ video was one of the best videos of all time.
Over the years, the musicians have addressed the incident in interviews and events and referred to it in their songs. West also apologized to Swift and the latter accepted the apology. The duo eventually decided to bury the hatchet and posed together for photos at the 2015 Grammy Awards. However, the feud reignited and took an even fierce turn when West released his song ‘Famous’ in 2016.
One particular line in the song stated, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that b*tch famous,” in reference to the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards incident. Shortly after, Swift’s rep issued a statement that read, “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 b*tch famous.’”
Swift won Album of the Year for her ‘1989’ at the 2016 Grammy Awards and doubled down her stance on the situation during her acceptance speech. “I want to say to all the young women out there… 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 you'll know that it was you, and the people who love you, who put you there,” the pop star stated.
A few months later, Kardashian inserted herself into the feud by addressing the situation in an interview on her first GQ cover. “She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn't. [She] totally approved that [line in the song about Swift]. I swear, my husband gets so much sh*t for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved. What rapper would call a girl that he was rapping a line about to get approval? [She] totally gave the okay,” Kardashian claimed. “I don't know why she just, you know, flipped all of a sudden. It was funny because [on the call with Kanye, Taylor] said, ‘When I get on the Grammy red carpet, all the media is going to think that I'm so against this, and I'll just laugh and say, “The joke's on you, guys. I was in on it the whole time.’” And I'm like, wait, but [in] your Grammy speech, you completely dissed my husband just to play the victim again,” she added.
The reality star also commented on the situation during an episode of ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians'. She said Swift’s Grammy speech was “just another way to play the victim” and “it definitely got her a lot of attention the first time.” She also said that she was tired of “people blatantly treating my husband a certain way and trying to make him look a certain way.”
Battle intensifies
Kardashian continued the longstanding battle by deciding to share some receipts on social media. She took to Snapchat to share an on-call conversation between West and Swift, in which the latter could be heard saying, “Go with whatever line you think is better. It's obviously very tongue in cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it, that's really nice!”
On the same evening, Swift responded to the receipt on Instagram and said she was never made aware of the lyric in which West called her a “b*tch.” “I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009,” the singer wrote. Around the same time, Kardashian also called Swift a “snake,” which prompted an online hate campaign against the pop star.
After staying out of the spotlight for nearly a year, Swift rose back from the ashes like a phoenix with her new single, 'Look What You Made Me Do'. The music video of the song is famous for multiple jabs and references toward West and Kardashian and allegations against Swift. In the wake of the release of the track, a source close to Kardashian and West told People, “Kim and Kanye don't care about Taylor's new music.”
Meanwhile, Swift continued to make headlines with her new 2017 album ‘Reputation', which contained further references to the situation. The 13th track of her album, titled ‘This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things’, contained the most explanatory lyrics that said, “It was so nice being friends again / There I was, giving you a second chance / But then you stabbed my back while shaking my hand / And therein lies the issue / Friends don't try to trick you / Get you on the phone and mind-twist you.”
In 2018, during the opening of her ‘Reputation’ tour in Glendale, Arizona, Swift touched upon the drama once again. “A couple of years ago, someone called me a snake on social media, and it caught on,” she said in reference to Kardashian’s comment. “I went through some times when I didn't know if I was going to get to do this anymore. I wanted to send a message to you guys that if someone uses name-calling to bully you on social media, and even if a lot of people jump on board with it, that doesn't have to defeat you. It can strengthen you instead,” the singer mentioned.
The beginning of the end
During an appearance on a 2018 episode of ‘Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen', Kardashian hinted that her war with Swift was over. “I feel like we've all moved on,” she said. The entrepreneur also shared a video of her listening to Swift’s song ‘Delicate’ marking the beginning of the end of the battle. However, Swift decided to share her side of the story during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
“Some events took place to cause me to be pissed off when he called me a b*tch. That was not just a singular event. Basically, I got really sick of the dynamic between he and I. And that wasn’t just based on what happened on that phone call and with that song — it was kind of a chain reaction of things,” the singer explained. “I realized he is so two-faced. That he wants to be nice to me behind the scenes, but then he wants to look cool, get up in front of everyone and talk sh*t. And I was so upset,” she stated.
Was it really over?
In early 2020, nearly a decade after the beginning of the infamous war between the superstars, the controversy resurfaced after a YouTube account leaked the supposed unedited version of the 2016 phone call between Swift and West regarding the latter’s song, ‘Famous'. In the video, West could be heard running over certain lyrics mentioning Swift but nothing about the infamous “I made that b*tch famous.”
West was even heard asking Swift to share the track on Twitter as promotion while the latter could be heard hesitantly saying, “I guess it would just be, people would be like, ‘Why is this happening?' And I had something to do with it, probably.’” Later in the call, West could be heard saying, “What if I said I made you famous?” Meanwhile, Swift could be heard sounding uncomfortable with the idea.
“Did you say that? Oh God, well, what am I going to do about it at this point?” Swift mentioned. “It's just kind of, like, whatever at this point, but I mean, you gotta tell the story the way it happened to you and the way that you experienced it. You honestly didn't know who I was before that. It doesn't matter if I sold 7 million of that album before you did that, which is what happened. You didn't know who I was before that and that's fine. Yeah, I can't wait to hear it,” she added.
In March 2020, Swift finally broke her silence over the leaked conversation in an Instagram story. “Instead of answering those who are asking how I feel about the video footage that leaked, proving that I was telling the truth the whole time about *that call* (you know, the one that illegaly recorded, that somebody edited and manipulated in order to frame me and put me, my family and fans through hell for 4 years)… SWIPE UP to see what really matters,” the singer wrote alongside a link to The World Health Organization and Feeding America and asked her followers to donate to coronavirus relief.
That same day, Kardashian said she would speak on the subject for the “last time.” “@taylorswift13 has chosen to reignite an old exchange— that at this point in time feels very self-serving given the suffering millions of real victims are facing right now,” she stated. Kardashian accused Swift of “lying” and said, “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…’ They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word “b****” was used without her permission.”
She further added, “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.’” Kardashian explained, “The lie was never about the word b****, It was always whether there was a call or not and the tone of the conversation.”
Kardashian finally ended the conclusion by saying, “This will be the last time I speak on this because honestly, nobody cares. Sorry to bore you all with this. I know you are all dealing with more serious and important matters.”
‘Move on and be an adult’
As Kardashian took to social media to share the Snapchat sketch video that seemingly shaded Swift, the internet wondered if the SKIMS founder is attempting to reignite their infamous old feud and took to Facebook to share their reactions. “Trying to stay relevant and grasping at straws again. MoveOn and be an adult,” one wrote. “Nothing to do with Kim. Between Kanye and Taylor. She's just trying to stay relevant,” another added.
“Anything from any of these Kardashians is irrelevant, world is over them n their dramas,” one said. “That is so childish,” another commented. “Needing attention,” a fifth user wrote. One said, “These women are well into thirties and maybe forty time to live an adult life me thinks!” while another added, “The pair of them need to grow up.”
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