Taylor Swift has accused Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West of “character assassination” after Kardashian-West released recorded footage of Swift and West in discussion over a lyric on his song “Famous”.
On Sunday evening, Kardashian-West released a series of short clips on Snapchat of her husband, West, in conversation with Swift discussing the lyrics. West can be heard reciting the lyric: “To all my southside n****s that know me best, I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex”. Among Swift’s reply is her thanking the rapper for informing her of the lyric, saying it is “like a compliment” and that she would present a unified front to the media after the song's release.
Kardashian-West’s Snapchat clips follows months of back and forth between the two parties over the lyric. When West initially released the single, Swift denied having approved the lyric: “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'," a statement said.
West later claimed he did call Swift “and had an hour long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessing”. Last month Kardashian-West defended her husband, claiming she had video evidence Swift approved the lyric and accused her of trying to “play the victim” following its release.
In response, Swift again denied she heard the song ahead of its release or approved the lyric “I made that b***h famous”, the lyric which immediately follows the lines West is heard reciting in the Snapchat video. A representative also said: "Taylor cannot understand why Kanye West, and now Kim Kardashian, will not just leave her alone".
The singer has now issued a response on Instagram to the Snapchat video, reiterating she learned of the ‘that bitch’ line “in front of the entire world” and asks: “Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me ‘that bitch? It doesn’t exist because it never happened.”
The 26-year-old also maintained she never heard the song ahead of the release: “While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot ‘approve’ a song you haven’t heard.
“Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination,” she wrote.
Swift also asked to be excluded from "this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009”. This appears to reference the now infamous incident that sparked their colourful relationship when West stormed the MTV VMA stage to interrupt her acceptance speech to proclaim Beyonce should have won instead. West later apologised and the two appeared to make amends, with Swift even presenting West with a VMA last year, until "Famous" was released on his album The Life of Pablo in February.
The Independent has contacted representatives for Kardashian-West and West for comment.
