Bluebird Cafe employee debunks alleged Olivia Rodrigo dispute over Taylor Swift photo
The fandoms of Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo are going head-to-head on social media after a video clip of an employee from a famous music venue misspeaking was posted online.
"It's developed into this whole monster," Erika Nichols, the general manager of the Bluebird Cafe, tells The Tennessean, part of the Paste BN Network.
The drama stemmed from a video posted to X on June 17.
In the video, an employee is seen 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," adding, "We gotta respect the girlies." The remarks, which have accumulated more than 5.7 million views, sparked speculation that the photo removal was due to a request from Rodrigo's team ahead of her performance.
"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."
Fans on X, crying foul, dug up performances with Swift's picture as a backdrop. Nichols responded by posting a two-and-a-half-minute explanation to social media.
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"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."