Kanye West has reignited his long-standing feud with Taylor Swift, suggesting that she is one of the reasons he has never been allowed to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show.
In a now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), West wrote, “I was never allowed to do the Super Bowl because of three moments: George Bush don’t care about Black people, the Taylor Swift incident, and wearing a MAGA hat.”
West’s public clash with Swift began in 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards when he interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech to declare that Beyoncé deserved the award instead. The feud escalated in 2016 when West mentioned Swift in his song “Famous,” a track Swift later said was used without her permission.
West also referenced his 2005 criticism of then-President George W. Bush, made during a live Hurricane Katrina telethon, and his embrace of Donald Trump’s politics, symbolized by the red MAGA hat, as factors that he believes contributed to his exclusion from the Super Bowl stage.
In the same post, West framed his exclusion as being the result of him being “ahead of my time.” He even seemed to link his widely condemned antisemitic remarks to the reasons he was kept from performing, suggesting that his previous controversies — including his political affiliations — were enough to keep him from the NFL’s most high-profile music event.
By bringing Swift into the narrative again, West has faced criticism for seemingly deflecting responsibility for his own actions. While Swift has not publicly responded to the renewed attack, she is known for avoiding public disputes, and her fans expect her to continue to stay silent on the matter.
