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I dont know if you noticed, but something amazing happened this week.
Call us the FDA, because were investigating old beef.
So instead Ill just give you a bullet-point summary.
Taylor picks up on this: Is it going to be mean?
He assures her its not mean.
Taylor is relieved that its not mean.
But overall she sounds positive.
Kanye backs down on the issue of the launch.
(This is the line that would ultimately make it into the song.)
Swift is neutral about which one he uses: Theyre both edgy.
Ultimately, Taylor tells him to go with whatever line is better.
Its obviously very tongue-in-cheek either way.
After this, the conversation warms up.
Kanye is relieved Taylor is okay with the line; Taylor is grateful that Kanye reached out to check.
Both sound happy theyve put any discord behind them and can be friends again.
But then Kanye springs it on her that theres a second reference in the song.
What if later in the song, I was to have said, I made her famous?
The mood gets slightly colder, as Swift clearly doesnt love this line.
Its just kind of like, whatever, she says.
It does not sound really fine.
But then she turns on the warmth again.
I cant wait to hear it, she says.
Crucially, despite how this new video has been billed, it is not the full, unedited conversation.
The video cuts a few seconds later.
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 [expletive] famous.
Was This True?Team Swifts first statement contains four assertions.
But the other two are stretches.
What Kanye Said:Ina series of since-deleted tweets, West defends himself.
I did not diss Taylor Swift and Ive never dissed her, he said.
Besides, the word bitch was an endearing term in hip-hop.
But the rest is a mix of half-truths and outright falsehoods.
And the notion that Swift came up with the line strains credulity.
This is widely assumed to be a shot at West.
Was This True?Much will hinge on whether Swifts umbrage at the Grammys was genuine or not.
Without access to Taylor Swifts interior life, this point is unresolvable.
She totally approved that, Kim tells the mag.
She totally knew that that was coming out.
She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didnt.
Thats just, like, what they say.
Most explosively, she says Swifts lawyers sent a letter telling Kanye to destroy footage of the phone call.
They do, however, claim that much of what Kim is saying is incorrect.
Taylor has never denied that conversation took place.
Kanye West never told Taylor he was going to use the term that bitch in referencing her.
A song cannot be approved if it was never heard.
Kanye West never played the song for Taylor Swift.
Taylor heard it for the first time when everyone else did and was humiliated.
Was This True?This is all mostly true.
But we can see how Swifts initial statement muddied the waters.
Swift is among them.
(Swift, for her part, does not respond to the bait.)
Taylors positive statements about the song become public for the first time.
Was This True?The Snapchat excerpts paint a vivid picture, but it is not the whole picture.
Its a highly edited selection of Taylor at her most complimentary and Kanye at his most obsequious.
Nevertheless, Team Kanye embraces the strategy of treating the footage as total vindication.
And since Taylor has been so cagey about her initial support, its taken that way by the public.
It doesnt exist because it never happened.
You dont get to control someones emotional response to being called that bitch in front of the entire word.
Of course I wanted to like the song.
I wanted to believe Kanye when he told me that I would love the song.
I wanted us to have a friendly relationship.
He promised to play the song for me, but he never did.
The statement is either laughed off, or elseexamined for further signs of nefariousness.
(Minus the never asked to be a part of bit, which overlooksthe whole Innocent saga.)
But by now it was clear Swift was on her heels.
Part III: So, Who Was Right?
Neither Swift nor Kanye was completely innocent in the affair.
And Swift certainly mishandled her initial response.
So why didnt she hew closer to the truth?
But the bitch issue was not a sidebar.
It was a legitimate grievance.
Kanye either did not pick up on this, or chose to ignore it to suit his own needs.
Furthermore, as the one releasing the song, Kanye bore more responsibility for any rifts it created.
He did not embrace this responsibility as he should have.
When she was winning a Grammy, the Famous line was clearly misogynist.
When people got a little sick of her, suddenly she was a lying manipulator.
