In a new GQ interview, Diplo addresses his controversial comments about Taylor Swift’s butt, the ones that inspired Lorde to tweet that he has a tiny penis. He starts out by saying that it was just a joke that got blown out of proportion because Swift is such a prominent figure in the media landscape:

Are you bringing up Lorde because of that thing that happened with her last year, where you tweeted something about Taylor Swift’s ass and then Lorde retaliated by calling you small-dicked? I have to ask.
No, I don’t care at all. It’s really dumb. So many great albums came out that week, and all people talked about, on all the big press, was Me vs. Lorde, and Kim Kardashian’s butt. No one covered any music. And it’s funny, because me and Lorde, we’re actually friends, and it was a funny, in-jest conversation. So many tabloids used it to make it story, when it was not. Literally, it was such a tongue-in-cheek joke on both sides. I think Taylor Swift is such an impactful character, that it was because she was involved that it became really big.

I wouldn’t say nobody wrote about any of the great albums that week, but fair point. He goes on to say that Swift’s fans are “the worst people in the world” and that he’s “scared for [his] life” among other things:

You’re a part of the tabloids now.
It sucks for me, because now I have to not be as crazy as I am on the internet. Which totally sucks, because it’s not going to be fun anymore. But the repercussions are really bad. Like, Taylor Swift fans are really crazy. They threatened to murder me and stuff. It’s really bizarre, and disgusting. They’re the worst people in the world.

You couldn’t pay me enough money to piss off the Taylor Swift fans.
Yeah. And I’m a pretty big fan. But they’re like “I wish your kids had Down syndrome.” They’re so evil. I dissed Lady Gaga before, and the gays were never even this mean. They’re funny. These people are like mean-spirited, evil human beings. I’m not a politician. I shouldn’t have to be under the microscope for people like that.

I just want to make sure that you know you have the option now, if there’s somebody’s butt you want to criticize here, we can definitely make room.
No. I think I definitely want to bring out positivity. Nothing good will come of it. Nothing positive comes out of that stuff anymore. But you know what’s cool? We’re having a very feminist, epic moment right now. There’s a lot of pro-feminist things. Which is really cool. I think that that’s cool. And I’m probably real easy to attack right now, because I am so booty-ish, and I have these funny quirky vibes on my Internet.

All things considered, if a million Taylor Swift fans got pissed off about that, it doesn’t totally matter.
She has like forty million Twitter fans. Forty million! Yeah. It’s crazy. I’m a fan though. Her powers — she’s big. She’s strong, bro. Taylor Swift is very strategic with her friends and enemies. And I know lots of secrets. I can’t divulge, but I know a lot of stuff about her. And she’s definitely, there’s definitely scary stuff going on. And I’m scared. I’m scared for my life.

You can read the full interview here. A couple points worth noting: (a) Diplo has been dating Swift’s nemesis Katy Perry on-and-off, so that probably colors his perspective. (b) When GQ published a preview with one of these quotes earlier this week — the one about Swift being strategic with her friendships and Diplo being scared for his life — it was removed and replaced with the less salacious quote about how all the media focus was on butts that week. It seems like somebody representing Diplo or Swift might have tried to squash the “scared for my life” quote, but it’s out there in the world now.

[Photo by Chelsea Lauren/WireImage.]