Kanye West And Taylor Swift: The Feud Between The Two Is Going To Outlive Everyone

It is not unknown that Kanye West and Taylor Swift and Taylor Swift do not share a friendly relationship. Their relationship has been nothing less than a roller-coaster ride, and it all started in 2009, when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s speech after winning the Best Female Video award for her video, “You Belong With Me.”

But this was not the end of it. They clashed with one another over and over again, and the next time was over a recorded phone call and lightning-rod lyrics. The phone call involved Kim Kardashian, West’s ex-wife. 

Time Of Kanye West And Taylor Swift’s Feud

The feud between Taylor Swift and Kanye West only escalated when Kardashian shared footage of the snapchat call. The clip shows Swift considering the “b***h” lyric to be a compliment.

The “lover” singer did not take the situation lightly and fought back. She mentioned that the video does not show her approval of the line of questions, and she couldn’t agree with this because she had never heard the song before.

It did not get resolved right away, and this feud became a prolonged one and made headlines over the years. Swift addressed the situation in a Rolling Stone profile in 2019. Here is a timeline of the feud between Kanye West and Taylor Swift.

Starting Of The Feud (2009)

On September 13, 2009, Taylor Swift went up on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards to accept the award for Best Female Video for her song “You Belong To Me.” She was interrupted while giving her victory speech.

Kanye West got up on stage, took the mic, and interrupted everything with his words. He said, “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!”

Taylor was at a loss for words and looked on with a devastating look as the whole thing unfolded. However, the camera shifted to Beyonce to get her reaction, and she looked horrified. After he was done saying what he had to, he handed the mic back to Taylor.

This unpleasant incident did not impress anyone. Moreover, President Obama even made a comment on the matter and called Kanye “a jackass.” Katy Perry, who is known to be the subject of the track “Bad Blood” by Swift, was not happy with the incident either.

She posted on X (formerly Twitter) that, “*** you, Kanye. It’s like you stepped on a kitten.” Later in the evening, Beyonge was called upon the stage to receive the award for her Video Of The Year, and she used the opportunity to call Swift back on stage to finish her speech.

Kanye West Did Not Apologize To Taylor Swift

After the incident, Kanye West appeared on The Jay Leno Show and admitted that “It was rude, period. I don’t try to justify it ’cause I was in the wrong. Dealing with the fact that I hurt someone or took anything away, you know, from a talented artist – or from anyone – because I only wanted to help people.”

He further added, “My entire life, I’ve only wanted to do and give something that I felt was right, and I immediately knew in this situation that it was wrong.” Even though he admitted that he did something terribly wrong, he did not apologize to Swift for that particular matter.

In an interview with The View, Taylor addressed, “My overall thought process was something like: ‘Wow, I can’t believe I won, this is awesome, don’t trip and fall, I’m gonna get to thank the fans, this is so cool. Oh, Kanye West is here. Cool haircut. What are you doing there?’ And then, ‘Ouch.’ And then, ‘I guess I’m not gonna get to thank the fans.”

He Finally Apologizes Through Twitter ( September 2010)

Kanye West apologized for the inappropriate incident that he caused and posted it on X, which was Twitter back then. He wrote, “I’m sorry, Taylor,” he wrote. “We’re both artists, and the media and managers are trying to get between us. She deserves the apology more than anyone.”

But after this, he backtracked a lot on his apology in various interviews and claimed that he did not want to do anything arrogant and that it was a selfless act on his part. He mentioned that Swift did not deserve the win and said that Swift made use of the situation to get publicity.

Even though they tried to be polite with one another in front of the public at the Met Costume Institute Gala in 2011 and exchanged a casual high five, it was quite clear that they had not buried the hatchet yet. Things were still heated.

Can You Take Back An Apology? (June 2013)

Well, it looks like you can. Kanye West certainly did. In an interview with The New York Times, Kanye West retracted his apology and said it was because of peer pressure that he apologized in the first place. He said, “I don’t have one regret.”

A New Leaf (February 2015)

Things have certainly gotten better between Kanye West and Taylor Swift. It seemed that they had put the bad blood beneath them and decided to move forward. They seemed super-friendly at the backstage of the 2015 Grammys. 

There were also rumors that the two were planning to collaborate. Kanye told Ryan Seacrest, “She wants to get in the studio, and we’re definitely going to go in. I don’t have an elitism about music; I don’t discriminate.”

Starting Afresh (August 2015)

Six years after that terrible incident, Kanye West and Taylor Swift were back on stage together. But this time, nobody interrupted. Taylor Swift presented Kanye West with the Video Vanguard Award, which confirmed their newfound alliance.

But Things Did Not Go Well For Long( February 2016)

Things were going quite well for a while when Kanye introduced a new track named “Famous.” The lyrics went like this, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous.”

Well, things went downhill after this music track was released. However, Kanye West claimed that he had asked Taylor for her approval before releasing the song. He said, “I called Taylor and had an hour long convo with her about the line, and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings.”

Taylor’s camp straightly denied that West did not run Swift’s lyrics before the song’s release. Moreover, he asked Swift to promote the song. It was said, “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.’” Even though Taylor Swift remained quiet, her squad did not take it lightly.

Taylor Gave It All Back (February 2016)

By now, I have started to feel that award shows are their thing. They communicate through speeches. Even without naming anyone, she said it all. In 2016, she won the award for Album Of The Year for 1989.

Swift said, “As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there—there are going to be people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.”

She also added, “But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around, and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world.”

The Feud Was Far From Over (June 2016)

Now, it was not just between Kanye West and Taylor Swift. It has turned out to be a feud triangle. Kim Kardashian West had joined the fued. In an interview with GQ, she brought up the matter of approval that Kanye said he sought from Taylor.

She mentioned that he asked her for her approval, and later on, she denied the whole incident and played the victim. Kim said, “She totally approved that. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t. I swear, my husband gets so much shit for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved.”

The Video Was Fuel To The Feud (June 2016)

The “Famous” video added matter to the feud and intensified things. The opening shot shows Kim and Kanye asleep in bed, and the camera pans out and shows naked Taylor Swift on the other side of Kanye.

The video includes various fictional pictures of other celebrities, but it is not clear how many of these celebrities agree with this. Taylor remained quiet, but her squad did not take this lightly.

After that, Kim Kardashian also made a Twitter post saying that people should follow her on Snapchat as well, as she has a secret recording of the phone conversation between Kanye West and Taylor Swift, in which he asked for her approval.

Numerous incidents have involved Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, and Kendal Jenner. The feud is still going on, and it is not possible to cover it all in one article.

Truth Be Told (March 2020)

An unedited version of the conversation between Kanye West and Taylor Swift was leaked, and it shows that Taylor Swift was speaking the truth all along. The video shows Taylor authored the “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex” part, but the part that said, “I made that bitch famous,” was not there, just as she denied it.

Did It End? (December 2023)

The matter did not end there; and it was brought up again when Taylor was having an interview with the TIME magazine. She mentioned, “took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls.”

She also added, “I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard. I thought that moment of backlash was going to define me negatively for the rest of my life.”

The fued has been going on for a while, and it is never going to be okay with Kanye West and Taylor Swift. They have made a great career out of their talent and have excelled in their field. Even though they have bad blood between them, it does not affect their career.