Taylor Swift video for Anti-Hero edited to remove the word ‘fat’
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One of Taylor Swift’s music videos has been altered to remove the word “fat”.
The original version of the song Anti-Hero showed the pop superstar stepping onto bathroom scales before the dial spins to reveal the word.
In the updated version on YouTube and Apple Music, Swift receives only a disapproving look from a doppelganger standing to one side.
The change was made after some fans and public figures criticised the original scene, suggesting it encouraged “fatphobia”.
Teen Vogue writer Catherine Mhloyi said: “In having the word ‘fat’ appear on the scale, she made a choice to explicitly name her demon, the fear of being called fat, which is fatphobia in its most literal sense.”
US eating disorder therapist Shira Rose said: “Fat people don’t need to have it reiterated yet again that it’s everyone’s worst nightmare to look like us.
“Having an eating disorder doesn’t excuse fatphobia.
“It’s not hard to say: ‘I’m struggling with my body image today’ instead of ‘I’m a fat, disgusting pig’.”
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But not everyone agreed, with Whoopi Goldberg telling her panel show The View: “Just let her have her feelings. If you don’t like the song, don’t listen to it.”
Swift has previously described the music video, which she wrote and directed, as depicting her “nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts playing out in real time”.
In early 2020, Swift revealed she has struggled with an eating disorder, and would sometimes “starve” herself if she thought her stomach looked too big.
She told Variety magazine that a headline describing her as looking pregnant had led her to stop eating.
Anti-Hero is from Swift’s new album Midnights, which broke the Spotify record for most-streamed album in a single day after it was released last week.
She has described the album as the story of “13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life” and “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams”.
