Billboard apologizes to Taylor Swift for including footage of Yezz Famous’s nude wax figure in tribute video

Why were Swifties upset?

Billboard shared a tribute video for Taylor Swift on its social media handle and captioned it, “@taylorswift ranks No. 2 on Billboard’s list of the greatest pop stars of the 21st century. (silver medal emoji).” However, a portion of the tribute video featured footage from Kanye West aka Ye’s 2016 Famous music video, featuring Taylor’s nude wax statue next to him and others. His controversial vocals suggesting that he and Taylor “can still have sex” because he “made that bitch famous” were also featured in the video.

“Publicly apologize to Taylor Swift,” one Instagram user commented on the old video. Another gushed: “What happened was truly disgusting!!!” A third comment said, “As a ‘serious’ music portal your attitude was shameful, while a fourth said, “Yal did it dirty. apologize.”

Billboard apologized

A few hours later, Billboard removed the video from its social media handles and shared a modified video without Famous’s footage. The caption also said, “We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift’s accomplishments, we included a clip that inaccurately portrayed her. We have removed the clip from our video and we sincerely apologize for the loss we have caused due to this error.”

Swifties were already upset that the top spot – Greatest Pop Star of the 21st Century – was awarded by Billboard to Beyoncé instead of their favorite star. The inclusion of Ye’s famous footage only added insult to injury. This or Kanye West is at number. 7th place on the Billboard list. Her feud with Taylor dates back several years, and it flared up when a phone conversation between the two was leaked online in 2020.