How the Kanye West and Taylor Swift dispute unfolded
Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, apologized, and later accepted an award from her at the 2015 ceremony. The 2016 song "Famous" started a dispute over whether Swift had approved a lyric about her, which grew when Kim Kardashian posted clips of a recorded call and when a longer recording appeared in 2020. West referred to Swift again in a 2024 song and in 2025 social media posts.
13 September 2009 to 9 February 2025 · 25 dated events · 30 sources
Status in the record · 2 November 2026
The latest exchange found in reputable reporting for this page is a set of posts West made on X about Swift during the February 2025 Super Bowl, after which he said he was logging out. The reports opened for this page record no public response from Swift to his 2024 and 2025 references.
Coverage through9 February 2025Editorial review2 November 2026
25 recorded eventsCounts describe this timeline's coverage, not the merits of either participant's position.
Timeline of events
Overview · 13 Sep 2009 to 9 Feb 2025 · click a dot to jump
25 events shown
2009
13 Sep 2009
Turning point
Kanye WestStart
West interrupts Swift's acceptance speech
After Swift won best female video for "You Belong With Me" at the MTV Video Music Awards, West took the microphone and said Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. AP reported that the crowd booed and that West was booed again later in the show.
“Taylor, I'm really happy for you, and I'm gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time”Kanye West, Salisbury Post, with the Associated Press
According to AP, Beyonce invited Swift back to the stage to finish her speech when Beyonce won video of the year later in the show. Swift said she had never met West and did not want to start anything.
West first posted an apology on his blog to Swift, her fans and her mother. On the debut of The Jay Leno Show he said he had been wrong and rude, wanted to apologize to her in person and would take time off.
“I'm ashamed that my hurt caused someone else's hurt.”Kanye West, Spin
On The View, Swift said West had not yet reached out to her personally. Representatives of the programme said West called her after the appearance, and Swift then said he had been sincere and she had accepted his apology.
“Kanye did call me and he was very sincere in his apology, and I accepted that apology.”Taylor Swift, ABC News
Shortly before the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, West posted a long series of tweets about the 2009 incident that ended with an apology to Swift. Access Hollywood reported that he also said he had written a song for her.
At the 2010 awards in Los Angeles, Swift performed "Innocent" after a video montage of the 2009 incident. CBS News and AP reported that its lyrics referenced her run-in with West. The reports opened for this page contain no statement from Swift confirming the song's subject.
West closed the 2010 ceremony with a new song. CBS News and AP reported that he did not address the 2009 incident directly, and described the song as mocking boorish behaviour.
Swift introduced West as the recipient of MTV's Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award. Time and Rolling Stone reported that she called him a friend and echoed his 2009 words in her introduction.
“Kanye defines what it is to be a creative force in music, fashion, and well, life”Taylor Swift, Time
In his acceptance speech, West referred to the interruption six years earlier and asked whether he would have acted the same way had he then had a daughter. In the same speech he said he would run for president in 2020.
“If I had a daughter at that time, would I have went onstage and grabbed the mic from someone else?”Kanye West, Rolling Stone
TheWrap reported that West played his new album, The Life of Pablo, to about 18,000 fans at a fashion event in New York. Its song "Famous" included a sexual reference to Swift and a line saying he had made her famous, using a derogatory word for her.
In a series of tweets, West said he had not insulted Swift, that he had discussed the line with her in an hour-long call and that she gave her blessing. He also said the idea came from Swift and that his wife had approved.
“I did not diss Taylor Swift and I've never dissed her”Kanye West, TheGrio
A statement for Swift said West had called to ask her to release "Famous" on her Twitter account, not for approval, and that she was never made aware of the actual lyric. It said she declined and warned him about the song's message.
“She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message.”Taylor Swift's representative, TheGrio
Accepting album of the year at the Grammy Awards, Swift told young women that some people would try to undercut their success or take credit for their fame. She did not name West. CBC News reported that many interpreted her words as aimed at West, and Spin described her as seemingly addressing his lyric about her.
“There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success”Taylor Swift, Spin
In a GQ cover story, Kim Kardashian said Swift had approved the song during a call and that there was video footage of the conversation. She said Swift's team then sent an attorney's letter asking that the footage be destroyed.
A spokesperson for Swift said she had never denied that the conversation took place, but that West never played her the song. The statement said Swift and her team had not known the call was being recorded.
“Kim Kardashian's claim that Taylor and her team were aware of being recorded is not true.”Taylor Swift's representative, Spin
West premiered the "Famous" video at the Forum in Inglewood. It showed nude figures of 12 celebrities in a bed, including a likeness of Swift. The Week reported that the figures were presumed to be waxworks rather than the people themselves.
Kardashian posted video clips on Snapchat of a phone call in which West described the planned song to Swift. In the clips Swift called a line about the two of them a compliment and thanked him for telling her.
“I really appreciate you telling me about it, that's really nice.”Taylor Swift, in the posted clips, Irish Examiner
In a statement posted on social media, Swift said West had promised to play her the song but never did, and maintained that she had not heard the part referring to her. She described the episode as character assassination and asked to be left out of the story.
“I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative”Taylor Swift, Irish Examiner
A video presented as the full call, about 25 minutes long, circulated online. The reports opened for this page did not say who posted it. Variety reported that West described lyrics about Swift but did not use the derogatory word on the call. CNN said it had not authenticated the video.
In an Instagram story, Swift said the footage showed she had been truthful about the call. She described the call as illegally recorded and said somebody had edited and manipulated it to frame her. She also pointed followers to a pandemic food relief donation page.
“telling the truth the whole time about that call”Taylor Swift, CNN, republished by WTOP
Kardashian replies that the dispute was about the call
In a series of tweets, Kardashian said she had never edited the footage and had posted only a few clips. She said the dispute was about whether the call took place and its tone, said Swift was lying and said her post felt self-serving given the suffering of millions of people at the time.
“has chosen to reignite an old exchange”Kim Kardashian, referring to Swift, Variety
In her Time Person of the Year interview, Swift described the clips as coming from an illegally recorded call that she said Kardashian edited to portray her as a liar. She said the episode affected her psychologically and that her career had been taken from her. The reports opened for this page record no response from West or Kardashian.
“You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call”Taylor Swift, Time
"Carnival", on West's album Vultures 1 with Ty Dolla $ign, included a sexually suggestive line naming Swift. The Straits Times reported criticism from her fans on social media. Neither report opened for this page recorded a response from Swift.
West posted that he was not the enemy of Swift's fans and said he had helped her career more than harmed it. He also shared a fan's post urging people to stream Beyonce's single "Texas Hold 'Em" to keep him from the top of the Billboard chart. No response from Swift was reported.
“I'm sure I've been far more helpful to Taylor Swift's career than harmful.”Kanye West, Gulf News, with IANS
During Kendrick Lamar's halftime performance at Super Bowl LIX, West posted on X objecting to Swift being shown on television singing a song he described as being about taking down a Black man. The Independent said he appeared to be referring to Lamar's "Not Like Us". He then wrote that he was logging out, and his account appeared to be deactivated. The reports recorded no statement from Swift.
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Coverage through 9 February 2025. Editorial review: 2 November 2026. Spotted an error? See corrections. Copyright concerns: report an asset. Every event links to its sources. Source type does not establish whether a claim is true.
