Billboard has now apologised to Taylor Swift for the blunder
It’s been eight years since the world first saw Kanye West’s controversial music video for his track ‘Famous’, but those wax figures he used in it are still just as talked about.
And unfortunately for Taylor Swift, the effigy created in her image has been thrust back into the spotlight once again thanks to a blunder by Billboard.
While congratulating the megastar, 34, on where she ranked in their list of the ’25 Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century’, the music publication managed to put their foot right in it.
But first things first – the ‘Blank Space’ singer earned the number two spot, for the Swifties who haven’t seen the news yet.
To commemorate her incredible success in the entertainment industry, Billboard shared a video on Instagram which paid homage to Swift’s achievements alongside the announcement.
But it seems the chart company really ought to be triple checking what snippets they put in these kind of clips, as Swift’s bizarrely included a scene from West‘s ‘Famous’ music video.
Billboard bizarrely included a snippet of the wax figure of the pop star which Kanye West used in his ‘Famous’ video (Instagram)
For those who need a reminder, West was inspired by Vincent Desiderio’s 2008 Sleep painting when creating the visuals for the song that was part of his hit album, ‘The Life of Pablo’.
In the rapper’s version, naked sculptures of the likes of Swift, Kim Kardashian, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Anna Wintour, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Ray J, Amber Rose, Caitlyn Jenner and Bill Cosby were seen laid in a shared bed.
For a lot of people, it was the stuff of nightmares, really – which is what Swift seemed to have thought too.
The fact his lyrics also referenced the possibility of having sex with the pop star and stated that he ‘made that b*tch famous’ obviously didn’t help matters either.
In fact, ‘Famous’ is responsible for sparking the ferocious feud between Swift, West and his former wife Kardashian, which ended up rumbling on for years.
The chart company has since issued an apology to Swift about the blunder (Kate Green/Getty Images)
At the time, her pal Lena Dunham took to Facebook to share a post slamming the rapper for the music video.
She branded it both ‘sickening’ and ‘disturbing’ – but it seems for some reason, Billboard thought Swift might like to see it in a short video honouring her.
The music firm have since apologised for the inclusion of the clip, although this might fall on deaf ears for Swifties.
In a post on X, Billboard wrote: “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.”
Featured Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management/YouTube/Kanye West
