One of Taylor Swift’s music videos was edited to remove the word “fat”.
The original version of the Anti-Hero song featured the pop superstar stepping onto the bathroom scale before the dial rotates to reveal the word.
In the updated version on YouTube and Apple Music, Rapid he receives only a disapproving look from a doppelganger standing to one side.
The change was made after some fans and public figures criticized the original scene, suggesting it encouraged “fatphobia”.
Teen Vogue writer Catherine Mhloyi said, “Having the word ‘fat’ on the scales, she chose 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 be reiterated once again that it’s everyone’s worst nightmare to look like us.
“Having an eating disorder does not justify 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 saying on his TV show The View: “Let him feel his feelings. If you don’t like the song, don’t listen to it.”
Swift previously described the music video, which he wrote and directed, as depicting his “nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts unfolding in real time”.
In early 2020, Swift revealed that she struggled with an eating disorder and sometimes “starved” if she thought her stomach was too big.
She told Variety magazine that a headline describing her as pregnant had led her to stop eating.
Anti-Hero is taken from Swift’s new album Midnights, which broke Spotify’s record as the most streamed album in a single day after being released last week.
He described the album as the story of “13 sleepless nights throughout my life” and “a journey through terror and sweet dreams”.
