Billboard Apologizes For Taylor Swift Video After Backlash
Billboard has spent the past few weeks counting down the greatest pop stars of the 21st century. Wednesday, they made it to #2: Taylor Swift. Swifties were obviously not happy about the decision not to put Swift atop the list, but they found a more specific cause for outrage: A video celebrating Swift shared by Billboard included a naked wax figure of the singer from Kanye West’s “Famous” video.
Just after midnight, Billboard posted an apology for the fake nude: “We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift’s achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her. We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error.”
They did not, of course, apologize for putting Swift at #2. While we’re at it, Abel Tesfaye would like to know why Lana Del Rey was omitted.
this is disgusting @billboard ! @taylornation13 @treepaine do your work pic.twitter.com/cgoh9UtW80
— Taylor Swift 🪶statistics ⸆⸉ (@TSstatistics) November 27, 2024
We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift’s achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her. We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error.
— billboard (@billboard) November 28, 2024
where is Lana on that billboard’s greatest pop star list ?
— Abel Tesfaye (@theweeknd) November 19, 2024