JUST IN: Kanye West Claims Taylor Swift’s Influence and Longstanding Feud Since 2009 VMAs Kept Him From Headlining Super Bowl Halftime Show

Kanye West Blames Taylor Swift for Blocking His Super Bowl Halftime Dreams in Explosive Deleted Post

| April 9, 2025 | 6:30 PM WAT

Kanye West, now known as Ye, has reignited his long-simmering feud with Taylor Swift, this time claiming the pop superstar is the reason he’s never been tapped to headline the coveted Super Bowl halftime show. In a since-deleted post on X shared Monday, the controversial rapper pointed to Swift’s influence—alongside his own polarizing actions—as the barriers keeping him from the NFL’s biggest stage.

“I never was allowed to do the Super Bowl because of three moments. George Bush don’t care about Black people. The Taylor Swift movement moment. Wearing a MAGA hat,” West, 47, wrote, referencing a trio of headline-making controversies from his career. The post, which quickly sparked a firestorm online, was deleted shortly after, but not before Page Six captured the explosive claims.

The “George Bush” comment harks back to West’s infamous 2005 statement during a Hurricane Katrina telethon, where he accused the then-president of neglecting Black communities. The MAGA hat reference ties to his vocal support for Donald Trump in 2018, which led to a reported loss of 9 million Twitter followers (though the platform later attributed the drop to a miscalculation, per The Grio). But it’s the mention of Swift, 35, that has reignited one of music’s most enduring feuds.

A Feud That Started at the 2009 VMAs

West and Swift’s bad blood dates back to 2009, when the “All Falls Down” rapper infamously stormed the stage during Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards. As a then-19-year-old Swift accepted her award for Best Female Video, West grabbed the mic to declare that Beyoncé deserved the honor instead, leaving Swift visibly shaken. The moment became a cultural flashpoint, birthing the “Taylor Swift movement” West now references—a legion of loyal fans who’ve had Ye on their naughty list ever since.

The drama didn’t stop there. In 2016, West name-dropped Swift in his song “Famous,” rapping, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b*tch famous.” Swift claimed she never approved the lyric, sparking another round of public spats. More recently, in February 2025, West took aim at Swift again after she was spotted dancing to Kendrick Lamar’s performance