John Shearer/Getty ImagesThere's bad blood between Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift, all right.
In January, Kanye West called Swift to discuss using her name in the song "Famous," off his seventh studio album, The Life of Pablo. The following month, the track premiered at Madison Square Garden in New York City during Yeezy Season 3. Almost immediately, West was vilified. "For all my Southside n---as that know me best / I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex," West, 39, rapped. "Why? I made that bitch famous (God damn) / I made that bitch famous." At the time, West tweeted that he spoke to Swift for an hour over the phone. He said she thought the line was "funny" and "gave her blessings." But Swift was "humiliated," maintaining time and again that she never approved the "I made that bitch famous" lyric associated with her name.
"Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single 'Famous' on her Twitter account. She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message," her rep said at the time. "Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, 'I made that bitch famous."
So, when Swift won Album of the Year for 1989 at the 2016 Grammys, she used it as an opportunity to correct West's claim about her fame. Noting that she is the "first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice," after taking home the award in 2010 for Fearless, she said, "There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. If you just focus on the work, and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you'll know that it was you and the people who love you that put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world."
Paparazzi swarmed West at the airport days after Swift's speech, but he offered a diplomatic response. "If you like my music, listen to it," the rapper said. "If you like her music, listen to it."
Aside from a nightclub rant, things quieted down after that.
Then, in GQ's July issue, Kardashian spilled the tea and revealed the phone conversation had been videotaped. "She totally approved that. She totally knew that that was coming out," the reality star alleged. "She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn't. I swear, my husband gets so much s--t for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved. What rapper would call a girl that he was rapping a line about to get approval?"
Kardashian also didn't understand why the word "bitch" offended Swift, as rappers frequently refer to women as such in their music. "I mean, he's called me a bitch in his songs," she said of West's 2012 ode to her, titled "Perfect Bitch. In West's defense, she said, "That's just, like, what they say. I never once think, 'What a derogatory word! How dare he?' Not in a million years."
Kardashian said neither she nor West had spoken to Swift since early 2016, save for an "attorney's letter she sent saying, 'Don't ever let that footage come out of me saying that. Destroy it.'" In response, Swift's rep issued a statement to GQ. "Taylor does not hold anything against Kim Kardashian as she recognizes the pressure Kim must be under and that she is only repeating what she has been told by Kanye West. However, that does not change the fact that much of what Kim is saying is incorrect. Kanye West and Taylor only spoke once on the phone while she was on vacation with her family in January of 2016 and they have never spoken since. Taylor has never denied that conversation took place. It was on that phone call that Kanye West also asked her to release the song on her Twitter account, which she declined to do. Kanye West never told Taylor he was going to use the term 'that bitch' in referencing her," the rep said. "A song cannot be approved if it was never heard. Kanye West never played the song for Taylor Swift. Taylor heard it for the first time when everyone else did and was humiliated. Kim Kardashian's claim that Taylor and her team were aware of being recorded is not true, and Taylor cannot understand why Kanye West, and now Kim Kardashian, will not just leave her alone."
The GQ interview was highlighted in Sunday's episode of E!'s Keeping Up With the Kardashians. After the episode ended, Kardashian shared a series of Snapchat videos that showed a portion of West's phone conversation with Swift. "I want things that make you feel good. I don't want to do rap that makes people feel bad," West told her. Swift said she was appreciative of the gesture, telling West, "I never would have expected you to tell me about a line in your song."
Kardashian's Snapchat videos also showed Swift approving the line "I think me and Taylor might still have sex." No video, however, showed Swift approving the line "I made that bitch famous."
Swift responded via Instagram, titling her open letter "That moment when Kanye West secretly records your phone call, then Kim posts it on the Internet." Addressing the couple and referencing the 2009 MTV VMAs, she wrote, "Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me 'that bitch' in his song? It doesn't exist because it never happened. You don't get to control someone's emotional response to being called 'that bitch' in front of the entire world. Of course I wanted to like the song. I wanted to believe Kanye when he told me that I would love the song. I wanted us to have a friendly relationship. He promised to play the song for me, but he never did. While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot 'approve' a song you haven't heard. Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination. I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009."
Neither Swift nor Kardashian has addressed the drama further via social media. No Matter. In the aftermath, #KimExplosedTaylorParty trended on Twitter and several celebrities took sides.
Why did Kardashian decide to release the footage on Snapchat in the first place? "Kim thinks Kanye went above and beyond by checking with Taylor and that Taylor totally lied about their conversation," a source close to the couple tells E! News exclusively. And while the footage did not show Swift specifically signing off on the "bitch" lyric, the source claims, "That word means nothing. The song before he called Kim a 'bitch.' That word means nothing in hip-hop."
Kardashian hasn't publicly commented on Swift's Instagram post. Privately, though, she thinks it's "so stupid," the source says. "She says the word 'bitch' bothered her but on the Grammys stage she never mentioned that. She said, 'Don't ever let anyone say they made you famous.'"
As Kardashian said on KUTWK, she thinks Swift has "played the victim" far too often with West. "I feel like I've had it with people blatantly treating my husband a certain a way and making him look a certain way. Kanye is always so honest and speaks his mind, and you know, when we were first dating everyone would talk s--t and he always had my back. At this point, I just don't get it," she explained. "Like, I really don't give a f--k, so I'll do whatever to protect my husband."