At this rate, we’ll be uploading this feud into our cyborg grandchildren’s brains. But you? You’ll have to just read it. Earlier today, Taylor Swift proudly declared herself completely vindicated by a recently leaked extended video of her infamous 2016 phone call with Kanye West over the content of his song “Famous.” Now, Kim Kardashian West has returned to the argument, about which she asserts Taylor Swift is straight-up lying. The bones Kim wants to pick with Taylor? First, whether Swift’s publicist alleged Kanye ever called to ask for permission to mention Taylor in the song, and secondly, whether or not Kim herself edited audio of the call to, in Swift’s words, frame the “You Need to Calm Down” singer as a liar, a claim Kardashian heartily rejects.
“@taylorswift has chosen to reignite an old exchange - that at this point in time feels self-serving given the suffering millions of real victims are facing right now,” Kardashian posted to her Instagram Story and tweeted Monday night, captured here by The Shade Room. “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.”
“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…,’” Kim continues. “They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word ‘bitch’ was used without her permission. 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,” she writes. “It was always whether there was a call or not and the tone of the conversation. I never edited the footage (another lie) - I only posted a few clips on Snapchat to make my point and the full video that recently leaked doesn’t change the narrative.”
“This will be the last time I speak on this because honestly, nobody cares,” Kardashian concludes. “Sorry to bore you all with this. I know you are all dealing with more serious and important matters.”
In response to Kim’s allegations, Swift’s longtime publicist Tree Paine tweeted her original statement about the call, asserting Kardashian’s decision to post clips of the call amounted to editing. Based on Paine’s statement, the opposing sides of this feud have a fundamentally different interpretation of what Kanye’s call was supposed to accomplish, and even the symantic distinction between the assertion “Kanye didn’t call” versus “Kanye didn’t call to ask permission.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands are huddled inside their homes against a global pandemic. Actually, as much as we want to rag on this never-ending feud, it’s kind of nice to read something that doesn’t make your heart leap into your throat after days and days of coronavirus, isn’t it?
