The Ice Spice Controversy That Landed Taylor Swift In Hot Water
Taylor Swift may be America's sweetheart, but there have been moments in her career where she has faced some heat, and one of them involved her good friend, Ice Spice.
For the most part, Swift has done her best to avoid any bad press surrounding her and her career. And when there is controversy surrounding her — she either capitalizes on it or avoids the topic completely. After Kim Kardashian and Kanye "Ye" West released a phone call that claimed that she had approved the lyric, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b***h famous," from his track "Famous," the hate toward Swift was unlike any other. As a result, she capitalized on the moment and released a whole album about her "Reputation." But Swift and West have had a years-long beef, so what could have possibly happened with her and Ice Spice that landed her in some controversy?
Although they had been in touch before the release of their collab, Swift and Ice Spice's friendship truly kicked off with the "Karma" remix in May 2023. Ahead of the release, the "Princess Diana" singer called Swift the "sweetest person ever" in a tweet as it looked like a true friendship was blossoming. But right when their relationship and collab was taking off, Swift came under fire, and it was tied to her friendship with Ice Spice and her new rumored romance.
Taylor Swift's relationship with Matty Healy caused tension with Ice Spice
After her breakup with Joe Alwyn, Taylor Swift moved on with The 1975 frontman, Matty Healy. The two had been friends since 2014 but began to explore something romantic in May 2023. Neither of them ever confirmed the romance, but to many, the connection was clear. But Swift's rumored romance with Healy became the center of controversy, and it had to do with Ice Spice.
In February 2023, Healy appeared on "The Adam Friedland Show," and the musician revealed he had DMed Ice Spice but never got a response. But that's not what caused the controversy. Podcast hosts Adam Friedland and Nick Mullen made insensitive comments toward Ice Spice, calling her offensive slurs. Although Healy didn't say the comments himself, he did not stop the podcast hosts and instead laughed off what they said.
The interview went viral in May 2023, when Healy sparked a romance with Swift, and the internet went wild. One X user, formerly known as Twitter, wrote, "[M]atty healy being racist and disrespecting ice spice ? oh i knew i was right when i said i hated this man." But it wasn't just Healy facing backlash; Swift came under fire for supposedly dating someone who would stand for such horrible comments. One person tweeted, "Ice spice and matty... taylor what are you doing." The controversy got so bad, but things changed quickly within a couple of weeks.
Matty Healy apologized to Ice Spice
Let's just say Matty Healy and Taylor Swift's relationship didn't last long. The last time the two were publicly spotted with one another was in mid-May 2023 when they walked side by side in New York City. Around this time, the Ice Spice drama began to really take off, and what would you know, just a couple of weeks later, Swift and Healy were dunzo. By the first week of June 2023, a source revealed to TMZ that the "Love Story" singer was single. Whether the breakup was caused by the controversy surrounding Healy and Ice Spice or not, The 1975 frontman eventually apologized to the "Princess Diana" rapper for not defending her against the racist comments made in the podcast.
In an interview with Variety, Ice Spice revealed she was "confused" by what was said in "The Adam Friedland Show." Despite her confusion, Ice Spice was willing to be the bigger person and revealed she had spoken with Healy and the hosts after the comments surfaced. She said, "But then they apologized or whatever. And the whole time, I didn't really care," she continued, "But that's funny because I saw him [Healy] at the Jean Paul Gaultier party a couple days ago, and he was like, 'Hey, you OK?' and I'm like, 'Of course.' He apologized to me a bunch of times. We're good." Ice Spice and Healy let the drama go, but that didn't erase the controversy it caused.