If you have been following the pop culture/music/Twitter news, you'll know that Kanye West is in hot water, again.
And for good reason.
Just this year, he's said that slavery was a "choice," had meetings with our current president, went on another pro-Trump slash pro-slavery rant and dressed up as a seltzer bottle on SNL.
This week, something oddly familiar happened with old Yeezy. Drake went on LeBron James' HBO show, The Shop, and accused Kanye of being "manipulative.'' He says Kanye wanted to "help him'' by listening to his album and finding out when it was being released. Drake later shared that he had a son with Kanye. Drake said Kanye was "manipulative" and said that he told fellow rapper Pusha T about his child.
All of Twitter pretty much rejoiced that Drake called Kanye out. However, some users pointed out that this beef sounded somewhat familiar.
Flashback to the summer of 2016, when Taylor Swift accused Kanye of manipulating her. Taylor said that she never gave Kanye approval to call her a "bitch" or say he "made her famous" in his song "Famous," and that he never had the approval of using her body in the video for that song. While Kim Kardashian released a Snapchat of Taylor approving a line in the song, she didn't approve the lines she said she was upset about.
Even though Taylor made her point very specific and clear, just like Drake did, she got a very different response. The Internet said she was "canceled," "over," "dead," and a "snake." They thought she was just lying and playing the victim to cover her tracks.
Only until this week when Drake shared a somewhat similar story about Kanye, that people started to realize that Taylor was right all along.
But why did this change? Taylor Swift has been one of the most divisive figures in pop culture and still is to this day. Why would her biggest controversy do a 180?
Some people would argue that Taylor and Kanye's recent political stances have changed everyone's opinion.
In 2016 and 2017, Taylor was infamously silent on politics. She never really supported a candidate in the election, and because she's a blonde white woman who used to sing country music, people assumed she was a Trump supporter. Even though there were other celebrities who didn't say who they were voting for, they weren't seen as being Trump supporters.
Her amazing album, reputation, was criticized for being "all about her," even though all of Taylor's albums have been about her personal experiences, and other artists write albums all about their experiences. It was also criticized for being "all about Kim and Kanye," even though there are only two songs that address them. Even her being included on Time magazines "Person Of The Year'' in 2017 for speaking out against the DJ who groped her was criticized.
This year, Taylor has supported the March For Our Lives, is encouraging fans to vote, and supported the Tennessee Democratic candidates. That combined with Kanye's previously mentioned politics, have turned the public's perception on both of them.
However, I don't think that is the main reason. If Kanye supporting Trump was the main reason for this sudden heel turn, this would have happened in late 2016. Kanye said at his concert, "if he had voted, he would've voted for Trump." Yet, the Internet ignored that and acted surprised at his recent thoughts.
I think the real reason everyone is saying Taylor was right all along is that a male artist that people find unproblematic said something similar to her experience. If Taylor's was the only story, people might still think Kanye was right, because it came out of a female pop star that everyone wanted to bring down.
Twitter likes to claim that it's "feminist" but we give men so many passes for things, and we need men to validate things like this. We should have believed Taylor right from the start. Especially because her claims matched up with Kim's Snapchat. Instead, the Internet finally had a huge piece of ammunition to bring Taylor down and bullied her on social media for two years. Everything she did was criticized because of this.
Now I might be biased because, if you have read my previous Odyssey articles, I am a big Taylor Swift fan. But take a look at your reactions to the Taylor versus Kimye feud. And take a look at your reactions to Taylor and Kanye's political statements. Lastly, take a look at your reactions to Drake's story about Kanye.
If your reaction to the first thing was siding with Kimye, and your reaction to the second and third things surprised, you are part of this problem.