Taylor Swift addresses homophobia in the music industry after Hayley Kiyoko comments
Taylor Swift (ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images)
Taylor Swift has defended out musician Hayley Kiyoko, after she spoke out against homophobia in the music industry.
Kiyoko, an out and proud gay singer who often refers to her female love interests in her music, called out music execs for resisting her overtly-gay tracks in an interview earlier this week.
Speaking to Refinery29, the Girls Like Girls singer accused music execs of having a double-standard on the issue because artists like Swift commonly talk about their relationships.
Singer-songwriter Hayley Kiyoko (Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for MTV)
She said: “I’ve had several music industry execs say, ‘You’re doing another music video about girls?’
“I literally looked at them and was like, um, yea …Taylor Swift sings about men in every single song and video, and no one complains that she’s unoriginal.”
Taylor Swift herself has now weighed in to defend the artist.
Singer/songwriter Taylor Swift attends the 49th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Responding to fans who perceived Kiyoko’s comments as a slight, she wrote: “We should applaud artists who are brave enough to tell their honest romantic narrative through their art, and the fact is that I’ve never encountered homophobia and she has.
“It’s her right to call out anyone who has double standards about gay vs straight love interests.”
Taylor Swift performs onstage during iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2014, hosted by Z100 New York and presented by Goldfish Puffs at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Swift shared a post that pointed out she had also called out the way the media focuses on her writing about her relationships but “don’t call out people like Ed Sheeran or Bruno Mars for writing about theirs”.
The post added: “She wasn’t calling out Ed or Bruno at the time, yet rather criticising how the media and the public handle the situation. Hayley appears to be doing the same.”
In the Refinery29 interview, Kiyoko had said: “I think no matter who you are or what you look like, you just wanna be a person, right?.
Hayley Kiyoko attends PEOPLE’s Ones To Watch Event on September 16, 2015 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for PEOPLE)
“Sure, I’d love for people to just like me, and my music. But if I don’t allow labels, there’s no way to normalise them.
“Over time, my existence alone will help people see that a lesbian singer is just a singer. So while I might not want to constantly be asked about my sexuality and just be me, a big part of me is my love of women.
“So I guess I’m talking about it until it’s no longer seen as something to talk about.”
She added: “I’m not over-sexualizing my music. I make out with women because I love women, not because I’m trying to be sexy. That’s not to turn heads — that’s my life.”
