Ah, Kim vs Taylor, a feud for the ages.
The two stars have clashed time and time, usually with Kim’s husband, Kanye West, in the middle. Their long history of disagreements has fuelled the celebrity rumor mill for years, creating camps on both sides for fans to viciously fight over.
Where is their beef now? What’s the state of Kim and Taylor’s relationship? Can peace reign? Let’s find out.
Taylor vs Kanye
Let’s go back…back to the beginning.
A long time ago on a stage far, far away, Kanye crashed Taylor’s Video of the Year win at the VMAs in 2009 to announce that Beyoncé deserved the award more.
We all know this story already, but it’s important to the future it’s going to create.
Obama weighs in
Because it used to be a big deal for the president to weigh in on pop culture issues, Obama having an opinion on Kanye was news.
He called Kanye a “jackass.” 3 years later, when questioned about the comment, he stood by it.
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Kanye apologizes
Kanye appeared on the Jay Leno show after the VMAs and said he’d made a mistake.
He said, “It was rude, period. I don’t try to justify it, “’cause I was in the wrong.”
Kanye backtracks
His apology didn’t last long. By 2010, he was changing the narrative, claiming that him interrupting Taylor was a selfless act, since Taylor didn’t deserve to win the award. Oh, Kanye.
Kim + Kanye
Fast forward to 2012. Kim began dating Kanye. The two eventually married, and the bad blood of 2009 seemed to be cleared up by 2015. The three even took selfies together at the Brit Awards, seemingly at peace with one another.
All was well
Let’s just look at one more pic from the Brit awards, because things will will only be this chill for so long. Even Taylor’s BFF, Karlie Kloss, got in on the KimYe selfies. Memories.
They did that!
To officially put their beef to rest, Taylor got onstage to present Kanye with the Michael Jackson Vanguard Award at the 2015 VMAs. She and Kim hung out all night, even sitting next to each other in the front row.
All a-flower
Kanye even sent Taylor flowers that night. She thanked him with a cheeky tweet, reading: “Awww Kanye sent me the coolest flowers!! #KanTay2020 #BFFs” She was alluding to Kanye’s announcement to run for president in 2020 (it’s 2019 now, I guess it looks like he’s not gonna do it).
RIP, peace
In true Kanye fashion, things got ugly. In 2016, while peace was still reigning, Kanye dropped the song “Famous.” The lyrics, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why, I made that [expletive] famous / Goddamn / I made that [expletive] famous” launched a thousand controversies.
He said, she said
The back and forth began.
Kanye said he got Taylor’s approval via a phone call, as reported by TMZ. Taylor’s representatives said it was through Twitter.
Kim then pulled out the big guns.
The receipts jumped out
Kim revealed to GQ that she had videos of the call Taylor’s reps denied ever happened. Taylor’s lawyers told Kim to destroy the videos, and that Taylor was not made aware of the line, “I made that [expletive] famous.” Kim posted all of the videos to Snapchat instead.
Snapped
The videos are a blessing and a curse for both parties. While the Wests were justified in their stance that Taylor was aware of the song itself, it accidentally proved that Taylor was telling the truth: the two did not mention the lyric, “I made that [expletive] famous.”
Damning on both sides
Taylor can be heard saying, “If people ask me about it, I think it would be great for me to be like, ‘Well he called me and told me the line before it came out. Joke’s on you guys; we’re fine.’” But again, no footage of her being told about anything other than “I still think me and Taylor might have sex.”
Taylor hits back
On a now-deleted Instagram post, Taylor posted a long explanation of her stance. She stated that she wanted to be friends with Kanye, and that he promised to play her the song, which he never did. You can read her full statement here.
Kanye crosses the line…again
Kanye dropped the video for “Famous” in June.
In it, he used recreated figures of 12 celebrities, including Taylor, in an “edgy” attempt at art. The exploited and naked Taylor depicted in the video joins other naked celebrity figures, including Donald Trump and Chris Brown.
Taylor takes control of the narrative
With her business spread across Twitter, Instagram, the tabloids, and episodes of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Taylor went underground and remade herself. She wiped all of her social media clean, shedding her skin…much like the snake Kim accused her of being.
Look what you made her do
Taylor’s first single from her remade image was “Look What You Made Me Do.” Reborn from the ashes of her “reputation,” Taylor filled the song and video with her revenge fantasies against Kanye and Kim.
Excluded from the narrative
Taylor packed the video with nostalgia of her past eras. In particular, she blatantly dressed herself back as her 2009 self, holding the VMA that Kanye so famously claimed she didn’t deserve.
Full circle.
Kim gets even
At the launch of her new KIMOJI fragrance, Kim separated out her lovers from her haters to receive PR packages. In the “haters” column was Sharon Osbourne, Wendy Williams…and Taylor Swift.
So what now?
2018 was pretty damn quiet on the Kimye vs Taylor front. Taylor went on her Reputation tour, while Kim and Kanye found themselves in political hot water. But in January 2019, Kim finally broke her silence.
Watch what happens
In an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, all three Kardashian sisters sat down with Andy Cohen to play a game of “Squash That Beef,” in which he asks the state of their very public celebrity feuds.
Squash that beef
When Andy Cohen brought up Taylor, Kim was quick to shake her head. “Over it,” she said, shaking her head while she sipped from her drink.
Khloé and Kourtney also looked unfazed.
Over it
Andy then asked whether they’d communicated at all, or whether everyone had moved on. “No, I feel like we’ve all moved on,” Kim said, before Andy himself moved onto the next topic.
Drake or Taylor
Andy posed a choice to Kim: would she rather be stuck on an elevator with Drake, or Taylor? Kim thought it through, then replied that she would choose Taylor.
RIP, Drake.