Billboard apologises to Taylor Swift for including her naked wax figure footage from Ye’s Famous in tribute video

Why were the Swifties upset?

Billboard shared a tribute video for Taylor Swift on its social media handles with the caption, “@taylorswift takes the No. 2 spot on Billboard’s list of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century. (silver medal emoji).” However, a part of the tribute video featured footage from Kanye West aka Ye’s 2016 music video of Famous, in which Taylor’s naked wax statue is shown next to his own and others. His contentious vocals suggesting he and Taylor “might still have sex” because he “made that b**ch famous” also made it to the video.

An Instagram user commented on the old video, “Apologize publicly to Taylor Swift.” Another wrote vehemently, “What happened was truly disgusting!!!” “Your attitude as a ‘serious’ music portal was shameful,” read a third comment, while a fourth stated, “Yall did her dirty. APOLOGIZE.”

Billboard issues apology

A few hours later, Billboard removed the video from its social media handles and share the revised one, sans the footage from Famous. It also stated in the caption, “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.”

Swifties were already upset that the top spot – the greatest pop star in the 21st century – was awarded to Beyonce by Billboard, instead of their favourite star. The inclusion of footage from Ye’s famous only added insult to injury. Ye or Kanye West ranks on the no. 7 spot in Billboard’s list. His feud with Taylor dates back several years, and blew up when a 2020 phone conversation between the two was leaked online.