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Billboard apologizes to Taylor Swift after fan backlash over a video

Taylor Swift performing at the ERAS Tour
Taylor Swift.

Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

  • Billboard used a clip from Ye's 2016 music video "Famous" to recap Taylor Swift's career.
  • The clip featured a nude wax figure of Swift lying in bed with Ye and other celebrities.
  • After backlash from fans, Billboard apologized for including it.

Over the past few months, Billboard has revealed its rankings for the best pop artists of the 21st century. On Wednesday, Billboard announced that the No. 2 spot belongs to Taylor Swift and published an Instagram video recapping her career.

While some Swifties were disappointed to see her in second place, the real backlash against Billboard involved a short clip within the video.

Referencing a yearslong feud between Swift, Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), and Kim Kardashian, the clip featured the infamous wax figure of Swift in Ye's 2016 music video "Famous." In it, Swift's figure is nude and lying in bed next to Ye and other celebrities.

The backlash from fans prompted Billboard to remove the clip from its video and apologize to Swift on Wednesday.

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 removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error.

β€” billboard (@billboard) November 28, 2024

The inclusion of the clip, which critics have described as "revenge porn," prompted fierce criticism on social media. On X, Swifties started the hashtag #BillboardIsOverParty, a nod to #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty in 2016 (also connected to "Famous.")

'Famous' ignited Swift and Ye's ongoing feud

A composite image of Ye in a raincoat looking to his right and Taylor Swift in a sparkly dress and necklace with red lipstick and squinting.
Ye and Taylor Swift have been feuding on and off since 2009.

Arnold Jerocki / Getty Images / Kate Green / Getty Images

In 2016, Ye released "Famous," which featured the lyric, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous." The lyric referenced the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when Ye stormed the stage and said BeyoncΓ© should have won the Best Female Video award instead of Swift. The "Famous" music video included the naked figure of Swift.

After Swift disputed Ye's claim that she approved the lyric, Kardashian (at the time married to Ye) posted short clips of a phone call between Swift and Ye, showing Swift approving of the line "I feel like Taylor Swift might owe me sex."

Swift was called a snake on social media, and the incident partly inspired her 2017 album, "Reputation."

The feud was reignited a few times: first in 2020 when a longer clip of the phone call revealed Swift being opposed to Ye using the word "bitch." The next time was in 2024 when Swift released several tracks about Ye and Kardashian in "The Tortured Poets Department."

Swifties united with other fans

Many Swifties were angered by Billboard using the clip. X user @ryoqko referred to the move as "Just nasty, disrespectful and unprofessional."

Fans of other top artists, such as Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, and Nicki Minaj, also tweeted at and about Billboard.

Swift's fan base has a history of banding together for a cause. When Ye surpassed Swift as Spotify's top global artist, Swifties collectively streamed BeyoncΓ©'s "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" to push Ye out of the No. 1 spot.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Google stops letting sites like Forbes rule search for β€œBest CBD Gummiesβ€œ

"Updating our site reputation abuse policy" is how Google, in wondrously opaque fashion, announced yesterday that big changes have come to some big websites, especially those that rely on their domain authority to promote lucrative third-party product recommendations.

If you've searched for product reviews and seen many long-established news sites "reviewing" productsβ€”especially products outside that site's expertiseβ€”that's what Google is targeting.

"This is a tactic where third-party content is published on a host site in an attempt to take advantage of the host's already-established ranking signals," Google's post on its Search Central blog reads. "The goal of this tactic is for the content to rank better than it could otherwise on a different site, and leads to a bad search experience for users."

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