Taylor Swift released a music video for her song, Anti-Hero, which is on her newest album, Midnights and got backlash from the media. The song Anti-Hero has a powerful meaning of how we are our own worst enemies.

Swift showed a clip in the music video of herself on the scale and the second “villain” version of herself looking over her shoulder in disapproval. The clip in the music video that received the backlash from the public is a scene when she steps on the scale and it says the word “fat”.

The media is claiming Swift is bringing negativity to the word fat and implying that fat is bad. People have misinterpreted the meaning of the scene, Swift was trying to speak out on society’s beauty standards that are placed on women and how they affect someone’s self worth. The meaning of the scene in Swift’s music video was wrongly misunderstood, the media is falsely accusing Swift of fatphobia.

Swift has spoken about her body image issues that she has faced in the past in her documentary Miss Americana. Swift’s career started at a very young age and from then on her body and physical appearance has been a focal point for the public. In 2020, the singer started sharing her own experiences in a interview with Variety magazine.

“I remember how, when I was 18, that was the first time I was on the cover of a magazine, and the headline was like ‘Pregnant at 18?’ And it was because I had worn something that made my lower stomach look not flat. So I just registered that as a punishment,” Swift said.

Swift shared with the magazine when she saw or heard comments about her body it triggers her eating disorder and made her feel like she was not good enough. Many people suffer from body image issues because of the beauty standards society has placed on women. That is what Swift was trying to share.

“I know when she was first introduced in the music industry she was working with very toxic producing groups and they gave her a bad self body image. Most of the Anti-Hero music video was her way of showing what it was like for her being so young and a woman in the music industry. And I think she did a great job portraying that but she could have done it in a more sensitive way,” junior Avery Adams explained.

Swift received backlash for the scene in the video, so much so that she deleted the clip. People on social media were calling Swift fatphobic, saying that she is bringing negativity to the word fat. However, the other side of the argument was claiming Swift was just trying to empower others who are facing similar struggles.

“Taylor had a good message and intention, she was trying to be empowering. I give her credit for trying to bring light and normalize the issue,” counselor Kristina King said.

The public claims Swift’s video was insensitive because the way she chose to represent the issue.  “Everybody has their own experiences and when you share them you should not get hated on,” junior Lyndsey Selman said.

Swift tried to speak out and though some people felt for her and related to the topic, others believed she was wrong to include the scene in her video or believe she could have done a better job at putting the message out.

Swift got backlash mostly on Twitter and TikTok, people made points saying she could have used a different word, she is making young people think being fat is bad, and she could have left the scale blank.

“I think it’s a little bit insensitive yet she was just trying to depict her body issues,” Adams said.

Swift does not deserve the criticism she has received for the short scene in the video. Celebrities receive bad press quite often. It can be very unfair and diminishing when they are trying to bring light to a hard topic, especially when it is based off their own experience like in Swift’s case.

She could have used a different word with the same meaning, but that could have gotten backlash as well, King said. The singer  deleted the scene from the video which shows she cares about what people have to say but it is a sad circumstance that people took her message the wrong way.

“I think it was a hard decision to keep the clip or not, either way it was going to get hate for it,” Selman explained.

Swift should not have received backlash for the scene in the music video and it is unfair she was bullied into deleting it. It is completely unjust the media called her fatphobic for the incident. The logic people are using to hate on Swift is the same as saying everyone who uses the word fat is “fatphobic”.  Swift was trying to share her personal struggles she has been facing for years and the media twisted her message, giving her bad press.

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