The host of “The View” won’t stand up to accusations of Taylor Swift being “fatphobic.” On Tuesday’s show, the women made their views very clear: “Leave her ass alone!”
The criticism comes in the wake of Swift’s release of her new album, “Midnights.” The album’s track contains “Anti-Hero”, for which the singer also released a video, making it her lead single from the album. But, after a particular scene in the video, some are accusing Swift of using “fatphobic” messaging.
In the video, Swift steps on a scale that immediately displays the word “fat” instead of showing the actual number, while another version of herself leans over her shoulder. As a result, some have taken this to mean that Swift is fat-shaming women who are her size or larger. But the hosts of “The View” disagree.
“She was just describing a personal experience,” Sunny Hostin said. “And frankly, this is a personal experience that a lot of women go through.”
Indeed, Swift has been very vocal about body image and her struggles with eating disorders before. In an interview with 2020 DiversitySwift admitted that “my relationship with food was exactly the same psychology I applied to everything else in my life: If I was patted on the head, I recorded it as good. If I had any When punished, I termed him wrong.”
Swift noted that “punishment” included an instance where she speculated on a magazine cover that she was pregnant “because I was wearing something that didn’t make my lower belly look flat.”
Hostin said critics are missing the point, to which moderator Whoopi Goldberg called “persistent.” Meanwhile, Whoopi was a bit more blunt in her views on the matter, often unable to conclude her view without becoming disheartened.
“Just let her have her feelings. If you don’t like the song, don’t listen to it,” she said. “Why are you wasting your time on this? Leave that girl – you know, you all want to say something about Taylor Swift, leave her ass alone, okay?”
As the discussion continued, host Joy Behar argued that women at large should reclaim the word “fat”, similarly she “withdrew” the word “bitch”. And of course, Behar joked that no other word on the scale is as powerful.
“What should put him on the scale of, ‘Fat?’ It doesn’t work,” Bihar said.
Host Alyssa Farah Griffin added support for Swift, saying that the singer is in no way obligated to share as much as she does, and criticizing those who “expect” her to do so, But then get upset with the way he did it.
Farah Griffin said, “Part of what makes Taylor Swift so uniquely outstanding is the she shares herself with her audience.” “She talks about her break-up, she talks about her relationships, her different struggles. So on the one hand, we can’t expect her to put herself out there and she’ll give it to us, the audience, then respond and say ‘Oh, she shouldn’t tell us about this struggle she’s going through’ Is.'”