As long as Taylor Swift is going to parse out her Kanye West feud point-for-point, so is The Dishmaster, because as a current lawyer and former debater, I know how to read between the lines — and Taylor Swift’s lines are actually circles.
Let’s review. Swift and West’s feud began at the MTV Video Music Awards when West interrupted her speech to boldly proclaim that Beyonce should have won. They briefly reconciled, but their new love took a left turn when West wrote a song about Swift, with the lyrics, “I made that bitch famous” and “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.” When West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, came to her husband’s defense, Swift’s team attempted to demoralize her with a cutting, sexist quote, saying:
“Taylor does not hold anything against Kim Kardashian as she recognizes the pressure Kim must be under and that she is only repeating what she has been told by Kanye West. However, that does not change the fact that much of what Kim is saying is incorrect. Kanye West and Taylor only spoke once on the phone while she was on vacation with her family in January of 2016 and they have never spoken since. Taylor has never denied that conversation took place. It was on that phone call that Kanye West also asked her to release the song on her Twitter account, which she declined to do. Kanye West never told Taylor he was going to use the term ‘that bitch’ in referencing her. A song cannot be approved if it was never heard. Kanye West never played the song for Taylor Swift. Taylor heard it for the first time when everyone else did and was humiliated. Kim Kardashian’s claim that Taylor and her team were aware of being recorded is not true, and Taylor cannot understand why Kanye West, and now Kim Kardashian, will not just leave her alone.”
Swift doubled down when she accepted the GRAMMY Award saying, “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.” Team West/Kardashian finally had enough and released the actual footage of Swift gleefully consenting to West’s use of the song. In the leaked footage, Swift can be heard calling West “awesome” for being “outspoken” in declaring that the VMA incident “made her famous.”
I suspect Swift was not aware she was being recorded, as there’s no way in hell her team would release the above quote if they had knowledge that it could be disproved in an instant. Furthermore, it’s illegal. California is a two-party state, which means that it is illegal for West to record anything without Swift’s permission or knowledge. West/Kardashian obviously knew that a lawsuit would serve to further soil Swift’s reputation, so they took the risk in releasing it.
When Swift got word of the release, her entire argument hinged on West NOT asking to use the words “that bitch,” saying ” You don’t get to control someone’s emotional response to being called ‘that bitch’ in front of the entire world.” Though we don’t get to “control” her emotional response, we do get to judge whether its genuine. And the evidence suggests it is not genuine. She did not object to West declaring that he made her famous (yet Swift took aim at this line during her GRAMMY speech) and she did not object to a line involving the two having sex. On the leaked footage she is heard saying that the sex lyric is actually “tongue in cheek.” If she didn’t object to both those lines, it stands to reason she would also not object to being called “that bitch.” But a busted person gets desperate — and she did the best she could to remove the red paint from her hands.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Swift resurrected the feud, claiming Kanye is two-faced. Swift recounts being asked by West to present him with the Vanguard Award only to say on stage, “MTV got Taylor Swift up here to present me this award for ratings!” But Rolling Stone fact-checked her claim, and West’s EXACT quote is, “You know how many times they announced Taylor was going to give me the award ’cause it got them more ratings?” The difference between those two sentences is MASSIVE. Swift’s claim implies West baited her to present the award and then made it look like it was solely MTV’s decision. His actual quote implies that HE wanted her to present the award but it was MTV who capitalized on the kind gesture between friends for ratings. While it’s possible she does not understand the difference between those two quotes, it’s also possible that this is once again a desperate attempt to revive her reputation.
For the life of me I do not understand why Swift won’t let this die. Part of me wants to believe she thinks she’s right and doesn’t understand the facts. But then I remember her sexist quote about Kim Kardashian and her deplorable GRAMMY speech and it hit me — she doesn’t think she’s right, she wants to win.
