Some feuds were built to stand the test of time. David and Goliath. Oli de Havilland and Joan Fontaine. And, obviously, Kanye West and Taylor Swift. In news that feels like it belongs in 2015, more footage of the infamous phone call between West and Swift has apparently leaked on YouTube. According to The Independent, the allegedly unedited video shows West on the phone with Swift discussing the lyrics to his song “Famous,” which was featured on his album The Life of Pablo. “It has a very controversial line at the beginning of the song about you,” West explains to Swift around the 12-minute mark, adding: “I don’t think it’s mean.” He goes on recite the notorious line (you know, the one about him and Taylor maybe having sex one day) before asking her to sign off on it:
Okay, well this is the thing why I’m calling you, because you got an army, you own a country of motherfucking 2 billion people, basically. If you felt that it’s funny and cool and hip-hop, and felt like it’s the College Dropout and Ye that you love, people would be way into it, and that’s why I think it’s super genius to have you be the one that says, ‘Oh I like this song a lot … this is cool.’
In response, the Miss Americana star chuckled and said “that’s not mean,” but did say that she needed “to think about it” before giving her stamp of approval. This version of events is at odds with what West and his wife, Kim Kardashian, purported to have happened. In 2016, Kardashian posted a video on her Snapchat of Swift allegedly signing off on the lyric. Swift subsequently accused Kardashian of being a “snake” for claiming she was unaware that West was going to call her a “bitch” in the song. The whole incident was yet another chapter in an incredibly long and drawn-out feud that may or may not have contributed to Swift’s temporary hiatus from the music industry.
Swift fans are using the footage as evidence that she was always in the right, sparking the hashtags #TaylorToldTheTruth and #KanyeWestIsOverParty over social media. However, a few questions remain. How long can this feud possibly last? How many videos of this phone call exist? Are we going to have to watch new leaked footage of this video every some odd years for the rest of our natural lives? If the footage is real, does anyone, other than Todrick Hall, still care? Not to be grim, but there are bigger issues at hand.