Kanye West has claimed Taylor Swift is the reason why he hasn’t been invited to headline the Super Bowl halftime show. The coveted slot has seen the likes of Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Prince, The Weeknd and Michael Jackson perform at the huge sporting event.
This year, rapper Kendrick Lamar took on the gig as he performed at the halftime show. Kanye, who has caused controversy with his racist and anti-Semitic posts, hit out at pop star Taylor as one of the reasons he has been snubbed from the event.
The controversial rapper blamed his years-long feud with the Bad Blood star. “I never was allowed to do the Super Bowl because of three moments. George Bush don’t care about Black people. The Taylor Swift movement moment. Wearing a MAGA hat,” he said on X.
Kayne went on to say he got “blocked from the main stage” for being ahead of his time, even before he “went full Nazi,” in the since-deleted X post, captured by WorldStarHipHop.
Jay-Z‘s Roc Nation took on a live music partnership with the NFL back in 2019, meaning he is the primary decision-maker for the Super Bowl halftime show. Kanye and Jay-Z fell out in 2016 and have endured multiple spats over the years.
This year, Kanye saw his X account banned following a string of shocking posts, including a dig at Taylor during the Super Bowl. In a statement prior to deleting, he made a swipe at Taylor, who attended the Super Bowl to support boyfriend Travis Kelce playing for Kansas City Chiefs.
In a move that sent the internet into overdrive, Kanye bafflingly hit the follow button on Taylor’s Instagram just before the Grammys and even name-dropped a Swift tune in a post about his now ex-spouse Bianca Censori.
Kanye didn’t hold back during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime gig, blasting: “IF ITS ABOUT THE CULTURE… WHY ARE WE LETTING TAYLOR SWIFT BE SEEN ON TV SINGING A SONG ABOUT TAKING A BLACK MAN DOWN AND ACCUSING OF THINGS THAT CAN TAKE A BLACK MAN DOWN FOR LIFE.”
Kanye and Taylor’s saga has been ongoing for the last decade-and-a-half. Taylor was dragged into a feud by Kanye, aka Ye, 15 years ago, when he ambushed the singer-songwriter on stage at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. The singer, aged 20 at the time, was giving an acceptance speech when Kanye emerged, grabbing the mic from her and declaring she shouldn’t have won.
He declared: “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish. But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all-time! One of the best videos of all-time.” Beyonce later asked Taylor back on to the stage to let her finish her speech.
Since, Kanye has embarked on a largely one-sided vendetta against Taylor, and went on to call her a ‘b****’ in one of his tracks. He claimed at the time he had her permission, which was later disproven.
In 2019, Taylor spoke to Vogue about how the spat had affected her and her mental health, describing the feud as a “mass public shaming”, which made her feel ‘very isolated’.
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