Here’s A Reminder Of The Kardashian/Jenners’ Involvement In “Snakegate” After Taylor Swift’s Latest Comments About The Drama Resulted In Kim’s Instagram Being Flooded With Snake Emojis
Fans are urging Kim to apologize after Taylor called her out for publicly branding her a “liar” and “illegally” recording that infamous phone call in 2016.
Swifties across the globe are urging Kim Kardashian to apologize to Taylor Swift after the singer recently spoke out about their infamous feud.
Close-up of Taylor with her arm around Kim
John Shearer / Getty Images
For those who missed it, Taylor sat down with Time magazine this week as the outlet’s Person of the Year — and during her wide-ranging conversation, she recalled going “down really, really hard” in 2016 as a result of her feud with Kim and Kanye West, who now legally goes by “Ye.”
Kim and Ye
John Shearer / Getty Images
To recap, the 2016 drama began when Ye, Kim’s then-husband, released a controversial lyric about Taylor in his song “Famous.” He sang, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous” — an apparent reference to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, when Ye interrupted Taylor onstage as she accepted the award for Best Video by a Female Artist, and loudly declared that he felt Beyoncé should’ve won instead.
Ye holding the mic onstage with Taylor, who’s holding an award
Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic
Ye later publicly apologized to Taylor at the time of the VMAs incident, explaining that he’d been attempting to call out systemic racism that exists within the music industry. Taylor accepted his apology. The pair eventually reconciled publicly at the 2015 VMAs.
Ye and Taylor embracing
Kevin Winter / Getty Images
The following year saw Ye’s infamous reference to Taylor in “Famous.” The rapper claimed that Taylor “gave her blessings” for him to release the lyric during an hourlong phone call they’d had, while Taylor’s camp firmly alleged that he’d never gotten her permission to refer to her as “that bitch.” What’s more, Taylor’s publicist said that Ye’s reason for calling was to ask the singer to share his song on her Twitter account.
Close-up of Taylor smiling in a sleeveless outfit
James Devaney / GC Images
Kim then entered the conversation, telling GQ that Taylor was lying and “totally knew” about Ye’s lyric. “She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t. I swear, my husband gets so much shit for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved,” Kim said.
Close-up of Kim in a halter top outfit
Steve Granitz / FilmMagic
Taylor’s representative fired back, saying, “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.”
Close-up of Taylor at a piano
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for Time
And then came Kim’s infamous Snapchat spam, which saw the mogul releasing video footage of Taylor and Ye’s phone call. In the footage, it appeared as though Taylor had approved Ye’s lyric, with the singer saying, “Yeah. I mean, go with whatever line you think is better. It’s obviously very tongue-in-cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it, that’s really nice!”
Close-up of Taylor in a velvet jacket at a media event
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images
Taylor publicly blasted Kim and Ye for secretly recording her on the phone and then posting it to Snapchat. She reiterated that she was not made aware of Ye’s “that bitch” line, and called the entire thing a “character assassination.”
Close-up of Ye in leather, a cap, and sunglasses and holding a microphone
David Livingston / Getty Images
But this didn’t stop internet users from absolutely berating Taylor, and her social media pages were soon relentlessly flooded with snake emojis. Ye later released a problematic music video for “Famous,” which featured a naked Taylor Swift body double in bed with him and a bunch of other celebrities.
Close-up of Taylor in a halter top outfit at a media event
Anthony Harvey / Getty Images
Kim massively fueled the hate toward Taylor, memorably tweeting hours before she released the Snapchat of the phone call, “Wait it’s legit National Snake Day?!?!?They have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days!” alongside a ton of snake emojis.
Wait it's legit National Snake Day?!?!?They have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days! 🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) July 17, 2016
Twitter: @KimKardashian
Meanwhile, Kim’s sister Khloé Kardashian tweeted, “Kim is a savage! Don’t fuck with her man hunni,” and her sister Kendall Jenner shared a bunch of snake emojis in a now-deleted post too. Kendall also appeared to shade Taylor on Instagram, sharing a photo of herself with the caption “tea time” as soon as Kim’s Snapchat videos were shared.
Kim is a savage! Don't fuck with her man hunni #KUWTK
— Khloé (@khloekardashian) July 18, 2016
Twitter: @khloekardashian
As a result of the widespread vitriol, Taylor essentially disappeared from the public eye. A year later, she reclaimed the whole “snake” brand by leaning into it with the release of her album Reputation, on which she references the drama with Kim and Ye multiple times.
Taylor taking a bejeweled bath
Big Machine Records
However, by 2020, the tables had turned as Taylor and Ye’s full phone call was shared online, and the world learned that Taylor had never actually approved the “that bitch” lyric at all.
Close-up of Taylor in a sleeveless floral-print cutout outfit at a media event
Kevork Djansezian / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images via Getty Images
Reflecting on the entire thing this week during her interview with Time, Taylor called out Kim and Ye directly for publicly branding her a “liar” and “illegally” recording the phone call.
Close-up of Taylor in a sleeveless outfit and many necklaces
John Nacion / WireImage
“Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me,” she said. “You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar.”
Close-up of Kim in a sleeveless dress at a media event
Jesse Grant / Getty Images
Taylor shared, “That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”
Close-up of Taylor performing onstage
Jun Sato / Getty Images
She added, “I thought that moment of backlash was going to define me negatively for the rest of my life.”
And now Taylor’s fans are urging Kim to apologize to the singer — and, ironically, flooding her Instagram comments with snake emojis.
A series of comments consisting of varying numbers of snake emojis and one with three trash emojis
@kimkardashian
More comments with varying numbers of snake emojis
@kimkardashian
More comments with varying numbers of snake emojis and one “Swifties are coming for you lol”
@kimkardashian
“Apologize to Tay,” the top comment under Kim’s latest post reads. “The swifties are coming for BLOOD,” someone else wrote.
Close-up of Ye and Kim with paparazzi behind them
Dia Dipasupil / FilmMagic
“You owe [Taylor] a HUGE apology,” another person commented, while several more users left GIFs of Taylor from the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video.
Close-up of Taylor
Big Machine Records
Kim has not publicly addressed the backlash, but we’ll be sure to update you if she does.
