UPDATE — 9/19/2024, 9:35 a.m. ET: Country singer Zach Bryan issued an apology after tweeting about Taylor Swift and Kanye West.
“For the record guys I wasn’t coming for Taylor the other night,” Bryan wrote via his Instagram Story on Thursday, September 19. “I was drunkenly comparing two records and it came out wrong.”
He added, “I know there’s a lot of stuff that clouds around Ye and I was speaking purely musically. I love Taylor’s music and pray you guys know I’m human and tweet stupid things often.”
Bryan went on to write that he’d be taking a step back from X because it “gets me in trouble too much,” adding, “I’m sorry to any Taylor fans I pissed off or let down. Love you guys and I’m trying my best!”
In a second Story, Bryan explained that he’s “going through a hard time” and might have been “projecting a little” when he shared the initial post. “I respect [Taylor] so much as a musician that the last thing I want is people thinking I don’t appreciate and love what she has done for music,” he wrote, before reminding himself, “Don’t drink and tweet. Don’t drink and tweet!!”
Original story:
Zach Bryan might be risking “Bad Blood” with Taylor Swift after he “drunkenly” made a dig at her.
The country star, 28, made a mild insult against The Tortured Poets Department singer when he wrote about his preference for Kanye West over her in a post shared via X on Tuesday, September 17.
According to a Variety report published Wednesday, September 18, Bryan also took a swing at Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, in the same post.
The post starts off with “eagles > chiefs” before then taking aim at Swift with the words, “Kanye > Taylor… Who’s with me.”
It appears Bryan quickly regretted his comments after receiving backlash from Swift fans. The singer backtracked and apologized for his remarks and now appears to have deleted his account altogether.
“Guys I love Taylor,” Bryan said before blaming alcohol as the reason for his post. “[I] was listening to TTPD last night and ‘Thank You Aimee’ came on and I drunkenly tweeted that about Kanye. If anyone took it serious please know I love both artists a lot and think we’re in a really beautiful time of music.”
West and Swift have notoriously been embroiled in a feud that has lasted over a decade. The song referenced by Bryan, “Thank You Aimee,” is widely regarded as a diss track against West and his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.
The rocky relationship between West and Swift stems back to 2009 when the rapper infamously stormed the stage to interrupt the singer as she was awarded Best Female Video at the MTV Video Awards.
Grabbing the microphone from Swift, West declared to a shocked audience that Beyoncé should have won for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” instead.
“Yo, Taylor,” West, 47, said at the time. “I’m really happy for you. Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.”
Swift, 34, later offered West forgiveness via lyrics in her song “Innocent,” which appeared on her 2010 album, Speak Now.
However, when West name-dropped Swift in his 2016 release “Famous” and claimed he “made that bitch famous,” it created more animosity between the pair.
Taking to X, West later defended the lyrics and even insisted Swift gave him her blessing before the song’s release. (It was later revealed that during their phone call, Swift only approved the line, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.”)
When Swift denied that the conversation happened the way the rapper was suggesting, West’s then-wife, Kardashian, released a video of West and Swift on the phone discussing the song and dubbed Swift a “snake.”
Swift went to ground after heated backlash but returned to release her 2017 album, Reputation, which features references that took shots at both West and Kardashian.
