Did Taylor Know This Was Coming?

By Bobby Finger | July 18, 2016 | 1:45pm

Celebrities Dirt Bag

In case you were enjoying a long night of thrilling REM cycles during which you dreamed about having lunch with Jessica Chastain on a terrace overlooking the Eiffel Tower as her three-legged dog gently nuzzled your calf while all this went down last night, here’s a one-sentence recap: Kim Kardashian Snapchatted footage of Kanye West receiving Taylor Swift’s permission to use her name in “Famous” last night, and Swift responded on her Instagram saying she never cleared the line, “I made that bitch famous.”

The message was written in Notes, the app most celebrities use to share long-form personal news, but some of Instagram’s more observant users noticed a potentially damning detail about this particular screengrab: the breadcrumbs take you back to “Search,” not another folder, meaning she may have drafted this note days/weeks/months ago in order to prepare for Kim’s inevitable reveal.

Most Popular

If, in fact, the note was drafted before Kim brought the receipts Sunday night, there are two ways to interpret it:

1. Taylor knew her enemy, Kim Kardashian, would release the video eventually, and was planning ahead. This is the likely explanation, as Kim claims Taylor not only knew of the footage’s existence, but once had her lawyers demand they destroy it—a move that could be based on California’s notoriously strict “two-party consent” law regarding the recording of phone conversations. Taylor, a master (but not the master) of control, was just planning ahead like any smart person would.

2. This is all part of the extended “Hiddleswift Is Just For a Music Video” fan theory, and Kim/Taylor aren’t enemies at all. This is a long shot, of course, but sort of a trip to think about—especially given the number of people who would have to be involved. Picture it: Taylor Swift plans to outdo her “Bad Blood” video by staging an epic that requires months of coordination and preparation with some of the most famous and image-conscious people in the country. In addition to faking a relationship with Tom Hiddleston, she fakes the extent of the drama between she and Kimye by exaggerating outrage at Kanye’s video for “Famous.” Kim calls her to tell her about the GQ profile. They plan ahead for the release of the footage, knowing the ensuing drama will put them both in the news for days. Perhaps it began as a real feud, but slowly developed into a mutually beneficial fraud (for the sake of publicity) involving some of the biggest celebrities in the world. When the reveal comes, they’ll both be outed as not only friends, but masters of the art of celebrity. It’s not just a conspiracy, it’s a conspira-tea.

We won’t know for certain until Taylor drops the first video from her next album, which—if she keeps to her strict release schedule—should happen within the next two months.

Meanwhile:

And uh, this [NSFW/NSFL].

[Twitter]

Justin Bieber is sick of all your shit, Atlantic City residents. [Idolator]
Laura Prepon is in love with all your shit, Ben Foster. [Us Weekly]
(Ben might be a Scientologist btw.) [Xenu.net]
Bryan Cranston just bought a very expensive apartment with all that meth money. [Page Six]
Jackie Siegel, star of Queen of Versailles, said “there’s not a day” she doesn’t want to cry over the loss of her daughter. [Us Weekly]
Congrats, Tatyana Ali! [Us Weekly]

Images via Instagram.