In a recent video, Billboard ranked Taylor Swift as the 2nd greatest pop star of the 21st century. Unfortunately, they used a clip from Kanye West's "Famous" music video. For the unversed, the music video of "Famous" was highly criticised as it featured a nude wax figure resembling Swift. West had claimed through the song and its visuals that he was the one who was responsible for making the 14-time Grammy winner famous. After Billboard shared the video, fans took to their devices to defend their favourite star. Almost immediately Billboard released a statement. “We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift's achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her. We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error,” they wrote on X, formerly Twitter. READ MORE: James Gunn sheds light on why 'movies are suffering', says its self sabotage to force directors to shoot without scripts We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift’s achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her. We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error. — billboard (@billboard) November 28, 2024 This misstep by an organisation like Billboard has yet again opened a discourse regarding the portrayal of celebrities in social media and organisational responsibility in general. This, however, is just one of the ongoing troubles for Billboard, as many artistes have criticised the '25 greatest pop stars of the 21st century' rankings.
