‘Leave her ass alone’: Taylor Swift defended over ‘fatphobic’ music video by The View hosts
Sunny Hostin and Whoopi Goldberg accused critics of ‘missing the point’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The hosts of US talk show The View have defended Taylor Swift amid criticism of the new music video for her track “Anti-Hero”.
The video features a scene in which Swift steps onto a scale that reads “Fat”, prompting some viewers to describe the video as fatphobic.
“Anti-Hero” features on Swift’s latest album, Midnights, which was released last week.
Appearing on The View on Tuesday 25 October, hosts Sunny Hostin and Whoopi Goldberg voiced their support for the music video.
“They missed the point,” Hostin said. “For someone who’s an artist, she gets to have agency over her artistry. She was describing a personal experience, and quite frankly, it’s a personal experience a lot of women experience.”
“I’ve experienced it, and men,” she continued. “You get on the scale and you’re a perfectly normal weight and all you see is fat, all you see is, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m five pounds heavier than I should be.’”
Goldberg, meanwhile, argued that people should “just let [Swift] have her feelings”.
“Why are you wasting your time on this?” she said. “You all want to say something about Taylor Swift. Leave her ass alone!
“You can never be just what you are. Everybody wants you to be something more, be less this, more that, and it’s what people do to each other on social media,” she continued.
Swift has previously described “Anti-Hero” as being a song about her “insecurities”.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Midnights has become the best-selling record of 2022 so far.
In just a few days, over a million copies of the album have been sold in the US, according to Billboard.
You can read The Independent’s five-star review of the album here.
Swift has also released other music videos to accompany the album, including a video for the track “Bejeweled”, which has delighted fans with its hidden Easter eggs.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments