It's been four years since Kim Kardashian posted an edited version of a phone call between husband Kanye West and singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, which seemed to indicate that Swift had given her consent to Kanye's song "Famous."
In the song, Kanye refers to Swift as a "b*tch," a line to which she later strenuously objected, leading to Kardashian's decision to share the conversation that Swift didn't know had been recorded.
Ever since then, Swift has adamantly maintained that the recording was not an accurate reflection of the conversation... and she now has proof.
Late Friday, a video made on West's end of the in-"Famous" phone call was leaked online, sparking #KanyeWestIsOverParty to trend on Twitter. The video shows the rapper asking Swift to release "Famous" via her Twitter account, telling her there is a "very controversial line" in it that he hoped she would okay.
Swift, sounding like she's dreading hearing the line, which he describes as being "Eminem a little bit," says she is worried it will be "mean."
West reassures her on the call, claiming Kardashian had at first felt it was "too crazy," but later called it her "favorite" line in the song.
When West tells her the line is, "I feel like Taylor Swift might owe me sex," she laughs and says, "That's not mean." Later, when West says the lyric may also include, "I made her famous," Taylor is clearly not on board. She says, "Like, it doesn’t matter if I sold 7 million of that album before you did that, which is what happened."
West assures her he will send her the finished song, but when "Famous" was released in February 2016 with the lyric, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / why? I made that b*tch famous," Swift's rep told People magazine she had "cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message." Her rep also asserted Swift had not heard the song in advance, nor had she been apprised of the lyric.
Kardashian branded Swift a snake on social media for her reaction, a motif that would figure prominently in Taylor's future output. In response, Swift posted a statement on Instagram asking, "Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me ‘that b*tch’ in his song?"
She went on to say, "It doesn’t exist because it never happened. You don’t get to control someone’s emotional response to being called 'that b*tch’ in front of the entire world."
For all the controversy, the single stalled at #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. Both artists have gone on to experience career highlights, and had seemed to be past the brouhaha.
People magazine has posted a full transcript of the call here.
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