Taylor Swift’s opening number at Wednesday’s Billboard Music Awards, which featured a pastel pink drum line, left Beyoncé fans fuming.
» RELATED: 2019 Billboard Music Awards: Here's the complete winners list
According to some members of the Bey fan club (or Beyhive), the country-turned-pop artist was “gentrifying” Beyoncé’s Coachella performance while performing her own song, “Me.” The outrage even led to a trending hashtag: #Mayochella.
But Swift fans quickly defended the performance, noting Swift has used marching bands in the past and is, well, definitely allowed to have a band onstage.
This isn’t the first time Swift’s been accused of ripping off Beyoncé’s work. In 2017, fans noticed similarities between Bey’s “Formation” video and Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.”
And her 2014 music video for “Shake It Off,” according to Bustle, led to intense backlash for “sexualizing and appropriating black culture.”
Still, the pair seem to be on friendly terms even if their fans have a rocky relationship.
Back in 2009, when Kanye West infamously interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMAs, Beyoncé invited the then-country artist on stage to deliver her speech, again. And according to BuzzFeed, Bey has attended Swift’s birthday parties in the past, too.
Support real journalism. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today. See offers.
Your subscription to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution funds in-depth reporting and investigations that keep you informed. Thank you for supporting real journalism.
