Taylor Swift fans noticed on Thursday that a segment from her new “Anti-Hero” music video had been changed after critics branded it “fatphobic.”
The 32-year-old singer is shown fighting herself in a toilet and going onto a scale in the five-minute video from her current album “Midnights.” The singer’s “anti-hero” form then glances at herself with dismay.
In the original video, the “Shake It Off” singer and her “anti-hero” alter ego glance down at the scale and read the phrase “Fat” with no numbers. Swift walks onto the scale in the stealth version, both versions of herself look down, and the scale displays no message.
Shortly after the video was released, critics branded the singer “fatphobic” and other derogatory terms.
“Taylor Swift’s music video, where she looks down at the scale where it says ‘fat,’ is a s***ty way to describe her body image struggles. Fat people don’t need to have it reiterated yet again that it’s everyone’s worst nightmare to look like us,” one person wrote.
“It is possible to appreciate Taylor Swift and midnight as an artist AND call her out on her blatant fatphobia,” another added. “Taylor Swift should have done better because even if it is relatable and an ‘intrusive thought’ it is damaging and fatphobic. Listen to fat ppl when they tell you it is.”
“There is no explanation for portraying fatness as bad and as something to fear which doesn’t justify the hatred of fat people,” another explained.
While another person tweeted, “fearing fatness is a basic pinnacle of how fatphobia operates. Having an eating disorder doesn’t make you exempt from this harm, including Taylor Swift.”
Swift characterized the music of the “Anti-Hero” video on Instagram as “nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts [playing] out in real time.”
“Sometimes I feel like everybody is a gorgeous baby / And I’m a monster on the hill,” one line in the song says.
The verse connected to the bathroom scale scene reads, “I”ll stare directly at the sun/ But never in the mirror/ It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero.”