Taylor Swift removes 'fat' scale scene from 'Anti-Hero' video following backlash

Emlyn Travis
·2 min read
7
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Taylor Swift is done rooting for a certain antihero.

The record-breaking singer-songwriter has quietly removed a scene from her "Anti-Hero" music video after its depiction of body-image issues sparked backlash. As of publication, it has been edited out of the version on YouTube.

The controversial scene features Swift, who wrote and directed the video, standing on a scale and seeing the word fat staring back at her. Her party-loving alter ego, who looks on nearby, then shakes her head in disapproval. The updated clip does not include the word and instead shows Swift stepping onto the scale while her alter ego shakes her head.

The moment has drawn criticism online since the video's release on Friday, with some social media users labeling it "fatphobic."

On Tuesday, the cast of The View defended Swift and the scene, with Sunny Hostin insisting that fans who were upset over it had "missed the point."

"For someone who's an artist, she gets to have agency over her artistry. She was describing a personal experience, and quite frankly, it's a personal experience a lot of women experience," Hostin said at the time. "I've experienced it, and men. You get on the scale and you're a perfectly normal weight and all you see is fat, all you see is, 'Oh my gosh, I'm five pounds heavier than I should be.'"

Taylor Swift Anti-Hero
Taylor Swift Anti-Hero

Taylor Swift/YouTube Taylor Swift steps on a scale in her new 'Anti-Hero' music video.

"Why are you wasting your time on this?" added Whoopi Goldberg. "You all want to say something about Taylor Swift. Leave her ass alone!"

Swift has described "Anti-Hero," the third track on her new album, Midnights, as one of her most personal songs yet.

"I don't think I've delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before," she said 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. 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."

Representatives for Swift and Apple Music did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content: