Taylor Swift accuses Kim Kardashian and Kanye West of 'character assassination' over Snapchat video

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Taylor Swift has accused Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West of “character assassination” after Kardashian-West released recorded footage of Swift and West in discussion over a lyric on his song “Famous”.

On Sunday evening, Kardashian-West released a series of short clips on Snapchat of her husband, West, in conversation with Swift discussing the lyrics. West can be heard reciting the lyric: “To all my southside n****s that know me best, I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex”. Among Swift’s reply is her thanking the rapper for informing her of the lyric, saying it is “like a compliment” and that she would present a unified front to the media after the song's release.

Kardashian-West’s Snapchat clips follows months of back and forth between the two parties over the lyric. When West initially released the single, Swift denied having approved the lyric: “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'," a statement said.

West later claimed he did call Swift “and had an hour long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessing”. Last month Kardashian-West defended her husband, claiming she had video evidence Swift approved the lyric and accused her of trying to “play the victim” following its release.

In response, Swift again denied she heard the song ahead of its release or approved the lyric “I made that b***h famous”, the lyric which immediately follows the lines West is heard reciting in the Snapchat video. A representative also said: "Taylor cannot understand why Kanye West, and now Kim Kardashian, will not just leave her alone".

The singer has now issued a response on Instagram to the Snapchat video, reiterating she learned of the ‘that bitch’ line “in front of the entire world” and asks: “Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me ‘that bitch? It doesn’t exist because it never happened.”

The 26-year-old also maintained she never heard the song ahead of the release: “While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot ‘approve’ a song you haven’t heard.

“Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination,” she wrote.

Swift also asked to be excluded from "this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009”. This appears to reference the now infamous incident that sparked their colourful relationship when West stormed the MTV VMA stage to interrupt her acceptance speech to proclaim Beyonce should have won instead. West later apologised and the two appeared to make amends, with Swift even presenting West with a VMA last year, until "Famous" was released on his album The Life of Pablo in February.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Kardashian-West and West for comment.

Kanye West: Okay, dope – you still got the Nashville number?

Taylor Swift: I still have the Nashville area code, but I had to change it.

[cuts to Kanye rapping] KW: “For all my southside n****s that know me best, I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.”

TS: I’m like, this close to over exposure.

KW: Oh well, I think this is a really cool thing to have.

TS: I know. It’s like a compliment, kind of.

KW: What I give a f**k about is just you as a person, and as a friend, I want things that make you feel good. I don’t wanna do rap that makes people feel bad.

TS: Umm I mean, yeah. Go with whatever line you think is better. It’s obviously very tongue in cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it. That’s really nice.

KW: Oh, yeah. I just had a responsibility to you as a friend, and thanks for being so cool about it.

TS: Aw, thanks, um, yeah. I really appreciate it, like, the heads up is so nice. [muffled] without like even asking or seeing if I would be okay with it and I just really appreciate it. Like, I never would have expected you to like, tell me about a line in one of your songs.

KW: It’s pretty crazy.

TS: And then the flowers that you sent me, I like Instagrammed a picture of them and it’s like the most Instagram likes I’ve ever gotten. It was like 2.7 [Snapchat ends]

KW: Relationships are more important than punch lines, you know?

TS: Yeah! I don’t think anyone would listen to that and be like “That’s a real diss, she must be crying.” It’s just, you’ve got to tell the story that way it happened to you and the way that you experienced it. You honestly didn’t know who I was before that. It doesn’t matter that I sold 7 million of that album before you did that which is what happened, you didn’t know who I was before that. It’s fine.

TS: I might be in debt, but I can make these things happen. I have the ideas to do it and I create these things and concepts. I’m always going to respect you. I’m really glad that you have the respect to call me and tell me that as a friend about the song. It’s a really cool thing to do and a really good show of friendship so thank you.

KW: Thank you too.

TS: And you know, if people ask me about it I think it would be great for me to be like ‘Look, he called me and told me the line before it came out. Joke’s on you guys, we’re fine.’ You guys want to call this a feud; you want to call this throwing shade but right after the song comes out I’m going to be on a Grammys red carpet and they’re going to ask me about it and I’ll be like ‘he called me.’ It’s awesome that you’re so outspoken about this and be like 'Yeah, she does. It made her famous.' It’s more provocative to say ‘might still have sex.’ It doesn’t matter to me. There’s not one that hurts my feelings and one that doesn't.