There’s precious little that can incite online fury like a tenuous beef between pop superstars, and Taylor Swift collaborator Joseph Kahn has just relitigated one of the snipiest conflicts in recent memory.
Seemingly moments after his music video for Look What You Made Me Do hit the web, pop fans drove themselves wild trying to decipher the shady portents hidden within. One element in particular was seen as an affront to Beyoncé: Swift’s use of a black crop top while fronting a phalanx of dancers, which some considered a blatant rip of Bey’s Formation clip.
That drama has previously been discussed by choreographer and LWYMMD dancer Todrick Hall, who said “I would never intentionally be a part of art that I felt was ripping off my favourite artist of all time,” but Kahn’s latest interview with The Los Angeles Times tackles the issue head-on (top-on?).
“It’s not ‘Formation’ at all,” Kahn said.
“They try to say she’s wearing a black crop top and Beyoncé wore a black crop top. But they don’t realize in 2015 in ‘Bad Blood,’ Taylor Swift was wearing a black crop top.”
Then came the big one, where Kahn provocatively reckoned “I really do think, by the way, that Beyoncé copied ‘Bad Blood.’”
To posit that one of the most impactful video clips in living memory “copied” a Swift vid is audacious and trolly, and the director recognises this. Fans, though? Not so much.
https://twitter.com/Elisha_Santos/status/905931768238415877
https://twitter.com/BeyElite/status/905929961311174657
https://twitter.com/DatreonL/status/905924706800455680
In his own replies after the Times interview went live, Kahn reiterates that he was well-and-truly taking the piss.
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/905872003126747137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wmagazine.com%2Fstory%2Ftaylor-swift-lwymmd-video-director-accuses-beyonce-of-plagiarism
To be honest, we’re just going to let the fans brawl this one out.
