Taylor Swift, 30, is feeling vindicated after years of being called a “snake.” The pop star shared her first public statement after the alleged full version of her 2016 phone call with Kanye West, 42, leaked on March 20, which appeared to prove that the rapper never received the green light to call Taylor “that b–tch” in his song “Famous.”
“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 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)..SWIPE UP to see what really matters,” Taylor wrote on her Instagram Story on March 23.
For Taylor, what matters most is feeding those in need — not her feud with Kanye and Kim Kardashian, who was the first to leak a snippet of her husband’s phone conversation with Taylor. Taylor attached a swipe-up link to donate meals to Feeding America, proving that she’d rather direct fans’ attention to helping others amid the coronavirus outbreak. In a follow-up message, she wrote, “The World Health Organization and Feeding America are some of the organizations I’ve been donating to. If you have the ability to, please join me in donating during this crisis.”
https://twitter.com/Rainesford/status/1242207915525758976
According to the leaked audio, what was discussed were Kanye’s lines “I made her famous” and “I feel like me and Taylor Swift might still have sex.” Taylor didn’t exactly sound thrilled about the first line, but she said it was “fine” given that Kanye “didn’t know” who she was before he infamously interrupted her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. She also understood the humor behind the sex line, even though Kim preferred this alternative: “I feel like Taylor Swift might still owe me sex.” Taylor joked that “the feminists are going to come out” if Kanye went with that version.
However, calling Taylor a “b–tch” was not brought up in the leaked phone call. That’s actually what Taylor liked about Kanye’s pitch! “I need to think about it, because you know, when you hear something for the first time, you just need to think about it. Because it is absolutely crazy. I’m glad it’s not mean, though,” Taylor said in the audio. She even verbatim said, “I thought it [the song] was going to be like, ‘That stupid, dumb b–ch.’ But it’s not.” Kanye then promised to send the “exact wording,” and Taylor said she was “excited.” Taylor claimed to have never heard the full song before it was released!
Taylor’s rep denied afterward that Kanye called for the singer’s approval — rather, to ask her to post “Famous” on her Twitter account — and so Taylor was met with harsh backlash after Kim leaked just a few minutes of the phone call in July of 2016. Kim even tweeted snake emojis, which soon became a symbol that haters associated Taylor with. However, Taylor tried to defend herself against the criticism with her own statement on Instagram, which didn’t fare well at the time: “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…While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot ‘approve’ a song you haven’t heard.”