The song includes a controversial lyric in reference to West 's interruption of singer Taylor Swift 's 2009 VMA acceptance speech and its aftermath : " For all my South Side niggas that know me bestI feel like me and Taylor might still have sexWhy ? I made that bitch famous ( Goddamn ! ) I made that bitch famous . " Upon the song 's release , the lyric was heavily publicized and criticized by media outlets , though West defended the line , saying , " I called Taylor and had a hour long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings . " In response , Swift 's spokesperson adamantly denied that West asked for her approval for the controversial lyric , with an official statement claiming that Swift had only been asked to release West 's song on her Twitter page , and had instead " cautioned him against releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message " . In Swift 's 2016 Grammy Awards victory speech for Best Album , she seemingly made a veiled reference to West 's lyric , referring to " those people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your '' fame . '' " In a June 2016 interview with '' GQ '' , West 's wife Kim Kardashian West claimed the couple possessed a video recording of West 's phone call with Swift , in which Swift could be heard amiably discussing and approving the lyrics . She clarified that Swift 's camp had threatened legal action should the video be released , and argued that " I swear , my husband gets so much shit for things when he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved . " In July 2016 , Kardashian posted a recording of the phone conversation online , in which Swift can allegedly be heard approving West 's lyric , describing it as a " compliment " and a show of friendship . Due to the release of this video , Swift has been accused of lying about approving the lyric . In the call , Swift appears to say : Yeah , go with whatever line makes you feel better , it 's obviously very tongue-in-cheek either way . And I really appreciate you telling me about it , that 's really nice ... I do n't think anyone would listen to that and be like ' that 's a real diss , she must be crying . ' You 've got ta tell the story the way that it happened to you and the way that you experienced it . You honestly did n't know who I was before that . It does n't matter that I sold 7 million of that album before you did that which is what happened , you did n't know who I was before that . It 's fine . ... If people ask me about it , I think it would be great for me to be like , ‘ Look , he called me and told me about the line . ' West can be heard telling Swift , " I just had a responsibility to you as a friend , you know , and thanks for being so cool about it . " Following the video 's release , Swift released a statement stating " being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination " , claiming West did not tell her she would be referred to as " that bitch "
2009 VMA
2009 MTV Video Music Awards
Famous (Kanye West song)