The is she/isn’t she that’s going on right now concerning glorious shining beacon of light unto the earth Taylor Swift and the most popular annual list of songs voted on by people who don’t actually regularly listen to the radio in the Triple J Hottest 100 has taken a weirdly finger lickin’ turn.
The kerfuffle and internet furore surrounding the #TayForHottest100 campaign – you know, that one thing that people are angry about because they think a popular artist should be ineligible for a popularity contest because she’s too popular – appears, on paper at least, to be over thanks to the involvement of KFC.
Former J’s presenter Angela Catterns appeared on the ABC show The Drum to assert that Swifty Cent was now out of contention for the Australia Day countdown “because a fast food chain became involved in the whole process.” That fast food chain being KFC, who yesterday affixed their wagon firmly to the runaway train that is the social media attention surrounding the issue by posting the following promotion/subtle (yet unofficial) endorsement to Facebook.
Triple J’s rules for eligibility for the Hottest 100 pretty clearly state that, “[Triple J] reserves the right to remove artists from the list who have benefited from competitions or commercial campaigns that incentivise fans to vote for them.“
Now, it’s absolutely worth noting a few things about this. Firstly, the KFC post goes bloody close to doing exactly what that proviso spells out. But secondly, it’s not an automatic disqualification, rather a discretionary rule that’s totally up to Triple J’s judgment. And thirdly, the station itself refuses to confirm one way or the other if this rule is being applied in this instance; preferring instead to stay tight lipped about the issue until all is ultimately revealed on Monday – very cleverly too, as the amount of added ears staying silent generates will surely be quite numerous.
And even if you do know someone that works at the station, don’t bother asking them about it. Station management has gagged all employees from speaking about things.
Breaking: Leaked Internal Email Reveals Triple J Mgmt Gagging Staff Over #Tay4Hottest100 http://t.co/2LmTzR98wt pic.twitter.com/h1zC3B4ahn
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) January 20, 2015
Whatever the case, the bottom line is this particular molehill has managed to turn itself into Everest, and the real winner out of it all is Triple J and the extra ratings spike it’s gonna get come Monday.
Seriously though. Taylor Swift for everything.
Photo: Astrid Stawiarz via Getty Images.
via SMH.
