Taylor Swift Slams 'Toxic Male Privilege' In Billboard's 'Woman Of The Decade' Acceptance Speech

13 December 2019, 15:28

Taylor Swift hit out at 'toxic male privilege' during her acceptance speech for Woman of the Decade.

Taylor Swift received the 'Woman of the Decade' award at Billboard's Women in Music 2019 and slammed her former record label, Big Machine Records in her acceptance speech.

After being embroiled in a feud with them over the past few months, the 'Lover' singer spoke out about it for the first time publicly since outing them in a social media statement in November, claiming they’d ‘banned’ her from singing her old songs.

Taylor Swift Takes Swipe At Big Machine Records With Her Outfit During American Music Awards Performance Medley

She said: "This just happened to me without my approval, consultation, or consent. After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold in a deal that I’m told was funded by the Soros family, 23 Capital, and that Carlyle Group.

"Yet, to this day, none of these investors have bothered to contact me or my team directly—to perform their due diligence on their investment."

Taylor Swift Accepts Woman of the Decade Award | Women In Music

"[They never] contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or even when it was announced," Taylor continued, "I’m fairly certain he knew exactly how I would feel about it, though.

"Let me just say that the definition of toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying 'but he’s always been nice to me' when I’m raising valid concerns about artists and their right to own their music. And of course he’s nice to you—if you’re in this room, you have something he needs."

It was decided eventually that Taylor was allowed to sing her old hits, of which she performed a medley at the American Music Awards, but their rift was far from over.

She then went on to thank those who reached out to her during the tough time, saying: "The fact is that private equity enabled this man to think, according to his own social media post, that he could 'buy me'."

"But I’m obviously not going willingly. Yet the most amazing thing was to discover that it would be the women in our industry who would have my back and show me the most vocal support at one of the most difficult times, and I will never, ever forget it. Like, ever," she added.

The Cats actress, who just turned 30, was shown support by her BFF, Selena Gomez, as well as other stars such as Halsey, Gigi Hadid and Camila Cabello.

Taylor has announced plans to re-record her first six albums in an effort to regain the master rights to the records.

She plans to re-record them in November 2020.

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