Billboard apologized to Taylor Swift after their video, which was supposed to celebrate the singer’s success, caused a stir and sparked backlash. The outlet has been announcing its 25 Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century. Billboard recently placed Swift on the number two spot in the star-studded selection.
The now-removed video shared with Billboard’s announcement included a clip from Kanye West’s song “Famous.” The controversial 2016 track features a naked wax figure of Swift in the music video. Moreover, the lyrics are, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that b—h famous.” West released “Famous” after his years long feud with Swift. The song and its music video were hit with criticism upon the release.
Billboard’s Taylor Swift post caused a stir
Billboard came under fire after using Taylor Swift’s naked wax figure clip from Kanye West’s “Famous” while announcing her as the second greatest pop star of the 21st century. Fans dubbed the outlet’s move “disgusting” and called it “beyond nasty.” Moreover, the hashtags #BillboardIsOverParty and #BillboardApologizeToTaylor also began trending on X (formerly Twitter).
Following the backlash, Billboard eventually took down the video from their platforms. They also took to their official social media accounts to apologize to Swift. The outlet wrote on X, “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.” The statement added, “We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error.”
Billboard removed the controversial clip and reposted the edited video on Instagram. The outlet also included the same apology statement in the caption. However, the reel’s comments section is still flooded with criticizing remarks. Meanwhile, Swift has yet to address Billboard’s ranking, the controversy, and the apology.
Originally reported by Shriya Swami on Mandatory.
