Kanye West Takes Aim at Taylor Swift

Kanye West appears to have reignited his feud with Taylor Swift.

The rapper, who changed his name to Ye in 2021, goaded the pop star in his latest Instagram Story.

The 46-year-old screenshotted a post by the Daily Loud. Originally posted to X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, the post shows that West overtook Swift as the most streamed artist on Spotify on Monday.

West has been in an on-again-off-again feud with the 34-year-old singer since 2009, when he interrupted her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs).

West hopped on stage after Swift, then just 19 years old, won the Best Video by a Female Artist award for "You Belong with Me."

West took the mic from the pop star and said: "Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!"

Newsweek has reached out to Taylor Swift and Kanye West for comment via email.

The moment went down in pop culture history, sparking a public battle between West and Swift that would last more than a decade.

After being shared to X, formerly Twitter, West's Story post quickly went viral, with people calling the rapper "obsessed."

"HE IS SO PETTY," said Onika Tingz.

"He knows she makes him famous that's why he keeps talking about her," wrote mo.

"All of this just for Taylor to go back to #1 as she has been for the past 293728373 days," said Steven.

"Why do all men suddenly hate a successful woman like taylor," commented lupic.

Kanye West's Feud with Taylor Swift Explained

Following the debacle at the 2009 VMAs, West referenced Swift in his song "Famous."

"I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex," the Yeezy founder rapped. "I made that b**** famous."

After facing backlash for the line, West claimed that Swift approved of the lyrics in a phone conversation.

"I called Taylor and had a hour long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings," he said in a now-deleted Twitter thread.

Swift's publicist contradicted West's claims, denying that the Grammy winner gave her consent.

West's then-wife Kim Kardashian also got involved in the feud. Speaking to GQ in 2016, Kardashian insisted that Swift approved the lyrics and hit out at the "Anti-Hero" singer for causing her husband "so much s***."

The reality star later released a recording of the call between West and Swift, in which the rapper runs the "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex" line past the music icon.

"It sounds like a compliment," Swift replies. However, she never approved the addition of "I made that b**** famous."

"Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination," Swift said in a statement at the time.

The full recording was released in 2020, vindicating Swift. West hit back at the pop legend, accusing her of lying, but the recording dented West's reputation.

Speaking to Time magazine in December, Swift shared how the "Famous" controversy impacted her mental health, describing the incident as a "career death."

"Make no mistake—my career was taken away from me," she said. "You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar. That took me down psychologically to a place I've never been before."

She continued: "I moved to a foreign country. I didn't leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn't trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard."

Swifties attacked Kardashian on social media, accusing the reality star of "bullying" their idol.

After West was knocked off Forbes' billionaire list, Swift fans compared the rapper's net worth with the "Blank Space" hitmaker's. Swift reached billionaire status this year thanks to her record-breaking Eras Tour, while West's net worth has dropped to $400 million since 2022.

Update 02/14/24, 5:28 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include further information on the feud between Kanye West and Taylor Swift.