13 hours ago
Bluebird Cafe employee misspeaks, launching spat between Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo fans
The fandoms of Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo are going head-to-head on social media after a video clip of a Bluebird Cafe employee misspeaking was posted to social media.
"It's developed into this whole monster," Erika Nichols, the general manager of the cafe, tells The Tennessean.
The drama stemmed from a video posted to X on June 17.
In the video, an employee is talking with some influencers about the history of the iconic destination where Swift was discovered in 2004. A photo of the Eras Tour singer on the back stage was from a limited time exhibition of images by Deone Jahnke in 2008, according to Nichols. Swift also has a dedicated chair and headshot on another wall.
In 2023, Rodrigo played a quick afternoon set with Sheryl Crow. The two did an acoustic performance of "If It Makes You Happy." Internet sleuths tracked down the performance and noticed the poster of Swift was gone.
When an influencer asked a Bluebird employee about Swift's missing picture, the employee said, "We vowed to remove any visible signs of Taylor Swift" as the request of Rodrigo's team, adding, "We gotta respect the girlies." His inaccurate spitballing has been viewed more than 5.7 million times and taken on a life of its own.
" The truth of it is Olivia's people did not ask for the Taylor Swift picture to be taken down," Nichols says. "We did not take her headshot off the wall. We did not remove the chair that has her name. You can see on the video of Olivia and Sheryl that we have our Bluebird posters in the background. This is something we do every time we have a professional filming in here. We're very careful not to use images that we don't have the rights to use. We remove them and put up our posters."
Watch Olivia Rodrigo and Sheryl Crow sing together at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe
Fans on X, crying foul, dug up performances with Swift's picture as a backdrop. Nichols responded by posting a two minute and 30 second explanation to social media.
"That image was removed for legal reasons," she said. "Please understand this was not anything between two artists. We support all songwriters, all artists and give them equal share. Taylor is a super friend of the Bluebird, and we have her in the highest esteem. We were honored to have Olivia here, and please know they both live extremely high in our regard."
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Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network's Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Bluebird Cafe employee misspeaks, sparks spat between Swift, Rodrigo fans
