Swift West Shake [CBS]
Addressing controversy over the Taylor Swift name-drop in his “Famous,” Kanye West does not simply maintain that Taylor Swift “gave her blessings” to the lyric.
He claims she “came up with the idea.”
The line in question — “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. I made that bitch famous” — sparked intense controversy earlier this week.
Amid criticism that it was simultaneously misogynistic and demeaning to Swift’s personal role in her success, a TMZ story emerged claiming West gave Swift preemptive notice regarding the planned lyric. Per sources, which TMZ says are part of the Swift camp, Swift reportedly understood the joke and approved the line.
Swift’s publicist Tree Paine, however, tells a different story. In a statement issued to the media (including Perez Hilton) late Thursday, she declares, “Kanye did not call for approval but to ask Taylor to release his single Famous on her Twitter account. She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that bitch famous.'”
In a series of Twitter posts Friday morning, West contends Paine’s statement. He also contends the notion that he even “dissed” the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter.
“I did not diss Taylor Swift and I’ve never dissed her,” wrote West. “I called Taylor and had a hour long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings.”
West added that “bitch” — “like the word Nigga” — is a term of endearment within hip-hop.
West, perhaps more notably, says Swift herself is the source of the claim that Kanye West made her famous.
“Thing I’m not even gone take credit for the idea…it’s actually something Taylor came up with,” wrote West. “She was having dinner with one of our friends who’s name I will keep out of this and she told him, ‘I can’t be mad at Kanye because he made me famous!’ #FACTS.”
The hip-hop artist also claims he received his wife Kim’s approval (presumably for the “might still have sex” line) and that he, as an artist, will express how he feels without censorship.
Team Swift has yet to respond to the allegations.