EGN NEWS DESK
Billboard meant to honor Taylor Swift because the second best pop star of the century.
That alone—rating her merely second greatest—might have already constituted blasphemy for a few of Swift’s followers. But in a since-edited video concerning the recognition, the music publication used a clip that prompted even higher backlash and an eventual apology to the artist herself.
As a part of Billboard’s countdown of the 25 best pop stars of the twenty first century, it revealed on Tuesday its No. 2 choice, billionaire singer-songwriter and final yr’s TIME Person of the Year Taylor Swift. Billboard posted on social media a video highlighting her profession and legacy, however in it, it referenced Kanye West’s controversial 2016 music “Famous,” which featured a unadorned wax determine of Swift in its music video and the lyric, “I really feel like me and Taylor would possibly nonetheless have intercourse / Why? I made that b-tch well-known.” The music and music video, which observers on the time criticized as misogynistic, had been initially launched amid a yearslong feud between the 2 artists.
Swifties had been incensed by the inclusion of West (who now goes by Ye and was ranked by Billboard because the seventh best pop star of the twenty first century) in addition to the offensive footage from his music video in a reel ostensibly designed to pay tribute to Swift. One fan account referred to as it “past nasty” and “an outright slap within the face.” Another mentioned it’s “not solely unprofessional, it’s extraordinarily problematic.” The hashtags #BillboardIsOverParty and #BillboardApologizeToTaylor started trending.
Billboard subsequently took down the video and reposted it Wednesday with the controversial clip eliminated. Early Thursday, the publication additionally issued an apology, saying: “We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift’s achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her. We have eliminated the clip from our video and sincerely remorse the hurt we brought on with this error.”
Swift has not publicly commented on the Billboard checklist, video, or apology.
