It looks like Azealia Banks may have taken Taylor Swift's side in the 2016 Kanye West phone call leak drama. Tweeting from what's believed to be her (now-deleted) private account, the rapper appeared to slam Kim Kardashian and West for "bullying" a 19-year-old Swift.
"You are just jealous that you don't have any actual talents and NEED to attach yourself to Kanye and Taylor for relevance," Banks allegedly wrote. "How did you get involved in the Taylor beef anyway? That happened way before you were even in the picture, sis."
Banks seemingly went after West, too, slamming him for bullying Swift. "Kanye is a father now and really has no reason or right to go around doing that to any women, white or black. Allow Taylor to defend herself from Kanye's bullying and leave her alone please."
Read Banks' alleged tweets below.
Yesterday, Kardashian took to Twitter to post a lengthy response to the news. She began by slamming Swift for choosing to "reignite an old exchange" — although it's not publicly clear whether Swift did, in fact, leak the video —and said she feels "left without a choice but to respond because [Swift] is actually lying."
Read Kardashian's statement below.
Swift also acknowledged the video leak on social media. Her response was short but shady — subtly shading Kardashian aka "somebody" for editing footage and manipulating the public narrative. Read below.
We're still not sure exactly how it surfaced in its entirety, or who leaked it, but the call in question took place before the release of Kanye's track "Famous." In the track, he drops the bars, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous (God damn) / I made that bitch famous."
After the track aired, Swift repeatedly said she felt disrespected. In response, Kardashian leaked a snippet of a phone call between Swift and Kanye that showed he had discussed the lyrics with Swift first. Kim Kardashian then labeled her a "snake" for feigning innocence. Queue mass criticism of Swift, her leaving social media for some time, and returning with the track "Look What You Made Me Do."
As it turns out, Kardashian's leaked snippet wasn't exactly the full story. The newly leaked clip shows that while Kanye did run lyrics past Swift, he didn't tell her that he calls her a bitch and takes credit for her fame (a reference to the 2009 VMAs) in the next line. Watch the clip below
Swift's close friend, Todrick Hall, was less subtle than Swift in his response to the news.
Swift's publicist, Tree Paine, also jumped to Swift's defense. Paine insisted that Kanye did not call Swift for approval, but rather to ask her if she could promote his song "Famous" on her Twitter account. Read below.
The Twitter account for Swift's inflatable cobra, Karyn (never thought I'd write that either), which she took on tour in 2018, also had something to add.
Keep scrolling to see what the rest of Twitter had to say.
Need more context? Find our timeline of Kanye & Swift's beef here.
