Kim Kardashian 'Lesson' She Can Learn From Taylor Swift Feud

Kim Kardashian could learn a lesson from her feud with Taylor Swift which has rumbled on for years, according to stand-up comedian and author Heather McDonald.

Kardashian was at the center of a social media storm last month after Swift's April 19 release of her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, featuring the song, "thanK you aIMee," written from the perspective of a bullying victim.

The capitalized "K" "I" and "M" in the title spell out "Kim," so fans believe the singer is hitting out at Kardashian.

The pair have clashed since 2016 when the socialite became embroiled in Swift's on-off feud with Kardashian's then-husband, Kanye West.

Newsweek reached out to Swift and Kardashian's people for comment via email Monday.

During an April 23 episode of her podcast, Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald, comedian McDonald spoke with former reality star Spencer Pratt—who considers himself a staunch Swiftie—about his opinion on the ongoing feud and the new song.

McDonald said she thinks the song is a "great lesson" for Swift's bully, whether that be Kardashian or Kanye West.

"[Kardashian] could honestly say right now, 'You know when I did this, it was not to ruin Taylor's career. I did not think that she would be suicidal or never do another song. That was not my intention when I did this,'" she said.

Swift has said that the backlash she faced during her feud with Kanye West, in which Kardashian played a part, felt like "a career death." Kardashian played a part in this conflict when, in 2016, she released video footage of a phone call between Kanye West and Swift. It was later revealed that the video had been edited.

Megastar Swift said it impacted her psychologically, which resulted in her moving to a foreign country not long afterward, and not leaving her house for a year. She also pushed people away because she "didn't trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard," she told Time.

McDonald continued: "But the lesson to be learned from everybody, whether you're a 12-year-old being a b**** to someone in seventh grade or you're 50, know that this type of s*** can really affect people—even if it wasn't your intention to affect them that much.

"And even if they thrive and are doing well afterward, it still doesn't mean that what you did was any less painful just because they—just because you didn't destroy them doesn't mean that it was any less painful to the person that wasn't destroyed. It was still awful.

"And that's what I love about the lesson. And that Kim can learn that lesson too, people should learn from Kim's perspective. A lot of people are Kims in situations and they need to learn from it too."

That being said, Pratt said he thinks "Kim loves" the fact that "thanK you aIMee" is presumed to be about her.

However, McDonald said that the fact that Kardashian has children could create some complications. North West, Kardashian's first child with now ex-husband Kanye West, has previously uploaded TikTok videos dancing to Swift's music.

"The only reason she's not gonna love it is because she has kids. And because Taylor's such a big deal. And because the kids' friends are gonna know this. And they're gonna be like, 'Yeah don't you know what this song is about?' There's no way North isn't talking with her little friends at 11 or 12 years old that she is and they're not like 'You know what this story is really about?'" she explained.

" … So that is where I think she might not love it at this time and why [Kardashian is] not addressing it, which I actually think is probably wise. Don't address it. But I also think she doesn't want to admit what she did was wrong, so I get that."

History of a Feud

Swift and Kardashian's feud stems from the reality star's ex-husband's track "Famous," in which he made a vulgar reference to the pop star, which she denied approving.

Kanye West rapped on the track: "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b**** famous."

He was referring to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), where he stormed onto the stage after Swift won Best Female Music Video. Kanye West took the microphone out of Swift's hands to declare that Beyoncé should have won instead.

The moment went down in music history and led to both Swift and Kanye West talking about it in interviews and writing songs about it. They eventually reconciled and in 2015, Swift presented Kanye West with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs. However, the release of "Famous" the following year reignited the bad blood between them.

At the time, a spokesperson for Swift told People: "Kanye did not call [Swift] for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single 'Famous' on her Twitter account … She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, 'I made that b**** famous.'"

Kardashian, who was married to Kanye West at the time, responded to Swift's denial by releasing an edited recording of a phone call between the singer and the rapper, which largely led fans to believe otherwise. Kardashian and West married in 2014 and she filed for divorce in February 2021.

A full transcript of the conversation between Swift and Kanye West was leaked years later in 2020, showing the rapper did not forewarn the singer that he was planning to use the derogatory term to describe her in the track.

Swift fans took it as vindication that Swift was telling the truth that she never approved the lyric and was not informed about the "made that b**** famous" line.

However, in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, that same year, Kardashian said Swift had chosen to "reignite an old exchange" which felt "very self-serving," and accused the musician of "actually lying."

"To be clear, the only issue I ever had around the situation was that Taylor lied through her publicist who stated that 'Kanye never called to ask for permission …,'" she stated.

"They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word 'b****' was used without her permission.

"At the time when they spoke the song had not been fully written yet, but as everyone can see in the video, she manipulated the truth of their actual conversation in her statement when her team said she 'declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message.'

"The lie was never about the word b****, It was always whether there was a call or not and the tone of the conversation."