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'Fat' scale edited out of Taylor Swift music video after backlash
Less than one week after its release, a controversial moment from one of Taylor Swift's latest videos has been removed, at least on one platform.
Swift's music video for the song "Anti-Hero" has been edited on Apple Music to excise a shot that sparked accusations of fatphobia, Vulture reports.
A scene in the video sees Swift step on a scale, which reads "FAT," as another version of Swift stands next to her and shakes her head. The Midnights singer has opened up in the past about her struggles with an eating disorder.
But some took issue with the moment and described it as fatphobic. "Fat people don't need to have it reiterated yet again that it's everyone's worst nightmare to look like us," one tweet read, drawing more than 42,000 likes.
In the version of the video available on Apple Music, the scene has been edited so we no longer see what the scale says, though the other version of Swift still shakes her head after looking down at it. The original version of the video with the "FAT" scale is still available on YouTube at the time of this writing.
Some had come to Swift's defense amid the backlash, including the hosts of The View.
"She was describing a personal experience, and quite frankly, it's a personal experience that a lot of women experience," co-host Sunny Hostin said, while Whoopi Goldberg agreed, "She's an artist. Let her do her thing."