Taylor Swift Cuts ‘Fat’ Scale Scene from ‘Anti-Hero’ Music Video on Apple Music After Backlash

Taylor Swift has removed the scene in which she steps on a scale that reads “Fat” from her “Anti-Hero” music video on Apple Music following criticisms that it came across as “fatphobic.”

More specifically in the scene, as Swift steps on the scale, which settles on the middle of the word on the “Fat”-labeled gauge, her party-loving alter-ego looks at the results and then shakes her head in disappoval at the version of Swift that stands on the scale. The YouTube video still contains the controversial clip.

According to Teen Vogue’s Catherine Mhloyi, “This alter ego, the “anti-hero,” is a voice in [Swift’s] head that antagonizes, insults, and plagues her with intrusive thoughts. That anti-hero exists inside her head and convinces her that she is “fat,” and since there’s no further exploration, fat in this moment is essentially equated with failure.”

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“What Taylor fails to realize is that this same voice exists for fat people, but it’s not in our heads,” Mhloui also wrote. “This voice is not just intrusive, it is pervasive, it is in every aspect of our lives.”

Swift hinted in her “Miss Americana” documentary that she has struggled with body image and eating disorders in the past, which this scene also seems to stem from.

In a 2020 interview with Variety, Swift said “My relationship with food was exactly the same psychology that I applied to everything else in my life: if I was given a pat on the head, I registered that as good. If I was given a punishment, I registered that as bad.”

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“The View” hosts defended the songstress on Tuesday’s show.

“She was just describing a personal experience,” Sunny Hostin said. “And quite frankly, it’s a personal experience that a lot of women experience.”

“Just let her have her feelings. If you don’t like the song, don’t listen to it,” Whoopi Goldberg said. “Why are you wasting your time on this? Leave that girl — you know, you all want to say something about Taylor Swift, leave her ass alone, OK?”

In her description of the third track on her latest album “Midnights,” Swift confessed, “I don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before,” on Instagram. “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized and, not to sound too dark, I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person.”

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“We all hate things about ourselves, and it’s all of those aspects of the things we dislike and like about ourselves that we have to come to terms with if we’re going to be this person,” she added.

“Midnights,” Swift’s tenth studio album (if you don’t count her re-records in progress) released Friday October 21 at midnight, with thirteen songs on the standard version, At 3a.m. EST, the singer surprised her fans with seven more songs, similar to her ‘From the Vault’ tracks, that complete the “Midnights 3AM Edition.” One song, “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” specifically set Swiftie speculation ablaze about her relationship with singer songwriter John Mayer. “Hits Different” is another bonus track available on the CD.

You can watch the “Anti-Hero” music video below and above.