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Acclaimed venue addresses rumors Olivia Rodrigo asked them to REMOVE Taylor Swift photos before performance
Nashville's Bluebird Café has finally set the record straight over sensational reports that Olivia Rodrigo 's team asked to remove pictures of Taylor Swift at the venue prior to filming there.
General manager and COO Erica Nichols was forced to speak out and address the mounting online rumors after an employee claimed that the establishment took down 'any visible sign of Swift' before Rodrigo performed there in 2023.
In a video shared to X on June 18, Nichols confirmed that pictures were taken down, but explained that this was purely because of copyright laws and had nothing to do with Rodrigo.
'We did have a filming with Olivia Rodrigo here,' she began. 'Olivia's people did not ask us to remove an image of Taylor Swift. Nobody did.
'We removed an image of Taylor Swift that was in a position where the filming was taking place.
'When we have filmings, we are required legally to remove images that are under copyright.
'We don't own those images, so we cannot give permission for those images to be used in any kind of broadcast.
'That's the sole reason that the photograph was removed from the place it stood.'
Nichols explained that the employee who initially ignited rumors didn't fully understand why the picture was taken down.
'He spoke carelessly and haphazardly about it, maybe trying to be funny, I don't know,' she continued. 'But regardless, that image was removed for legal reasons.'
She also pointed that other pictures in the room were also taken down.
'Please understand this was not anything in between two artists,' Nichols added.
'We support all songwriters, all artists and give them equal share. Taylor is a super friend of the Bluebird, and we hold her in the highest esteem.
'We were honored to have Olivia here, and please know they both live extremely high in our regard.'
Concluding her message, she said: 'It was a mistake on the part of the employee, and I'm here to clear that up so you know that this was something that we were just required to do for legal reasons.
'Thank you so much for listening. Please know that we at the Bluebird Café support Taylor. We support Olivia and we're grateful for your support.'
In the viral clip, a Nashville's Bluebird Café employee claimed that the acclaimed music venue had 'vowed to remove any visible signs of Taylor Swift.'
Swift was notably added to the credits of Rodrigo's song Deja Vu back in 2021 after fans noticed the chords resembled ones from the Swift track Cruel Summer.
Afterwards, fans speculated the duo were embroiled in a feud with one another.
In 2023, Rodrigo addressed online speculation that she had written her song Vampire about Swift.
'I was very surprised when people thought that,' she told The Guardian at the time.
'I never want to say who any of my songs are about. I've never done that before in my career and probably won't.
'I think it's better to not pigeonhole a song to being about this one thing.'
Rodrigo has also publicly praised Swift's work.
'I would just love to just be in a studio with Taylor,' she said on Apple Music 1's The Travis Mills Show in 2021.
'I don't even have to write with her. I just want to watch how she does it because I just think she's such a genius.'
'I don't have beef with anyone,' she told previously Rolling Stone. 'I'm very chill. I keep to myself.
'I have my four friends and my mom, and that's really the only people I talk to, ever. There's nothing to say.'
She also said she wasn't all that 'involved' in the songwriting credit matter: 'It's not something that I was super involved in.
