Taylor Swift removes ‘fat’ scale from ‘Anti-Hero’ music video after backlash

Swift was called out for 'blatant fatphobia'

Taylor Swift appears to have tweaked the music video for her 'Midnights' single 'Anti-Hero' after a backlash over the word 'fat' which some fans branded fatphobic. The self-directed clip, released October 22, shows Swift being judged by an evil version of herself and includes a scene where she is weighing herself. The video cuts to a close-up of the scale, which reads 'FAT', before we see the twin shaking her head. Swift said the video explored her “nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts”, but some fans said it went too far and was fatphobic. https://twitter.com/hutchleah/status/1583525665063596033 https://twitter.com/luciewald/status/1583551762673197057 https://twitter.com/amateur_arguer/status/1583501704128962561 While Swift hasn't commented on the criticism, she appears to have adjusted the video. Overnight, the video for ‘Anti-Hero’ was altered on Apple Music, removing the close-up shot of Swift stepping onto the scale, instead the scene appears as one continuous shot. https://twitter.com/hutchleah/status/1585163110448762880 https://twitter.com/SavLovesSwift/status/1585321328047198208 The YouTube version, however, at the time of writing, had not been changed. The scene appears around the two minute mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1kbLwvqugk&feature=emb_imp_woyt   On Wednesday, Swift released a clip for ‘Bejeweled’, where she stars as Cinderella alongside Laura Dern and the Haim sisters. The singer announced last week that every track on ‘Midnights’ would be given the “music movie” treatment. Other stars set to appear are actors Laith Ashley, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, John Early and Mike Birbiglia. ‘Midnights’ is already the fastest-selling record of 2022 (shifting over a million copies as of Wednesday) and is Swift’s 10th studio album, following her 2020 lockdown albums ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’, as well as last year’s re-recorded versions of ‘Fearless’ and ‘Red’. Last week, Swift confirmed that a UK tour in support of ‘Midnights’ will be announced soon. In her 2020 documentary, Miss Americana, Swift spoke about her personal experience with her body image as a public figure, saying: "It's not good for me to see pictures of myself every day," she said in the documentary. "It’s only happened a few times, and I’m not in any way proud of it. A picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or ... someone said that I looked pregnant ... and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit — just stop eating."

• Taylor Swift fans are fuming as singer uses the word ‘fat’ in new music video
• People think Taylor Swift just confirmed metaphor in her song means she lost virginity to Jake Gyllenhaal
• Katy Perry's 'Dark Horse' slammed for 'disrespectful' Jeffrey Dahmer lyric
• Madame Tussauds removes Kanye West wax work from public view