Taylor Swift Is A Snake

Taylor Swift Is A Snake

2016Hashtag / emoji spam campaignclassic

Published July 28, 2026

Also known as: #TaylorIsaSnake · #TaylorSwiftIsASnake · #KimExposedTaylorParty

"Taylor Swift Is a Snake" is a 2016 social media meme where users flooded Taylor Swift's Instagram and Twitter with snake emojis (🐍) after Kim Kardashian publicly backed Kanye West's claim that Swift had approved his controversial "Famous" lyrics4. The hashtag #TaylorIsaSnake trended worldwide, turning the snake into a tool of mass trolling against one of pop music's biggest stars2. Swift reclaimed the snake symbol for her 2017 album *Reputation*, and an unedited phone call that leaked in 2020 largely vindicated her original claims.

Overview

The meme centers on mass-posting the 🐍 emoji on Taylor Swift's social media to brand her a liar. In internet slang, "snake" means "a scamming backstabber who does something just to get something out of it"4. At its peak in mid-2016, every post on Swift's Instagram was buried under thousands of snake emoji comments1. The campaign grew from colliding celebrity feuds: Swift versus Kanye West over "Famous," her messy breakup with Calvin Harris, and her tension with Katy Perry1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter, Instagram (viral spread), Snapchat (catalyst via Kim Kardashian)
Key People
Kim Kardashian, community-created hashtag campaign
Date
2016

The snake label stuck to Swift in the summer of 2016 after multiple celebrity dramas overlapped. Kanye West had released "Famous" earlier that year with the lyrics "I think me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous"4. Swift publicly objected and denied ever approving the song. West claimed she had given her blessing over the phone4.

Kim Kardashian escalated the fight by going to GQ magazine with claims that Swift had heard the song and approved it, backed by phone call recordings between West and Swift4. The clips appeared to show Swift complimenting the concept, directly contradicting her public stance1. Fans loyal to West and Kardashian immediately branded Swift a liar and flooded her social media with 🐍 emojis.

Around the same time, Swift's ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris aired his own grievances on Twitter. After it was revealed Swift had co-written his hit "This Is What You Came For" under a pseudonym, Harris posted a thread saying: "I figure if you're happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of trying to tear your ex bf down for something to do"1. He added, "I know you're off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy," dragging the Swift-Perry feud into the mix1. This three-front perception of Swift as dishonest made the snake emoji the perfect unifying symbol.

How It Spread

BuzzFeed reported that users were "spamming Taylor Swift's Instagram with the snake emoji," with the campaign picking up momentum after the Calvin Harris and Katy Perry feuds converged1. Kim Kardashian's release of phone call recordings raised the intensity to another level. She doubled down on National Snake Day by tweeting: "Wait it's legit National Snake Day?!?!" alongside a wall of 🐍 emojis2.

On August 2, 2016, Justin Bieber posted an Instagram screenshot of a FaceTime call with Kanye West, captioned "Taylor swift what up"3. The hashtag #TaylorSwiftWhatUp immediately trended, with users calling it Swift's "Regina George hit by a bus moment"3. Bieber's fanbase joined the pile-on, flooding Swift's Instagram with "Taylor swift what up" comments on top of the existing snake storm3.

A *Keeping Up With the Kardashians* episode showed Kim telling Kourtney that Swift's response was just her way of playing the victim. "Definitely got her a lot of attention the first time," Kim said, referencing the 2009 VMA interruption when Kanye famously hijacked Swift's acceptance speech4.

Swift went dark on social media for months. Then in August 2017, she wiped all her accounts clean and began posting short, cryptic videos of a snake2. Her comeback single "Look What You Made Me Do" and the album *Reputation* embraced the snake as a reclaimed symbol, flipping the insult into a brand6. Univision noted the choice carried additional layers: Swift was born in 1989, the Year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac, and she had worn a snake-print Louis Vuitton dress to the 2016 Met Gala before the drama even started2.

The full, unedited phone recording between West and Swift leaked online in March 2020, revealing that Swift had agreed to a name-drop but was never told about the word "bitch" or the lyric "I made that bitch famous"5. The leak showed the earlier clips had been edited to remove context favorable to Swift, and public opinion swung decisively back in her favor.

How to Use This Meme

The "Taylor Swift Is a Snake" meme typically takes a few forms:

1

Snake emoji flood: Post rows of 🐍 in someone's comment section to call them dishonest or two-faced

2

Hashtag call-out: Tag posts with #TaylorIsaSnake, #TaylorSwiftIsASnake, or similar

3

Reaction posts: Pair images of Swift with snake imagery or snake-related captions

Cultural Impact

The snake campaign was one of the largest coordinated emoji spam events of 2016. BuzzFeed framed it as a moment when "everyone is siding with Calvin Harris, Katy Perry, and also Kanye West" against Swift1. The pile-on blurred the line between meme and targeted harassment, with millions of comments rendering Swift's social media unusable.

Swift's choice to weaponize the snake for *Reputation* was a calculated counterpunch. The album's promotional rollout featured snake imagery across every platform, the tour stage included a giant inflatable cobra, and tracks like "Look What You Made Me Do" addressed her critics head-on2. On Tumblr, fans celebrated the reversal: one viral post captured the gleeful shock of watching Swift post her own snake video after months of being called one6.

The 2020 phone call leak reversed the meme's meaning entirely. What started as "Taylor Swift is a liar" became "Taylor Swift was telling the truth." The original snake campaign was widely reexamined as a case study in how selectively edited recordings can fuel online mob behavior.

Fun Facts

Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989, the Year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac2

She wore a snake-print Louis Vuitton dress to the 2016 Met Gala, months before the snake meme erupted2

Kendall Jenner was considered a "second tier" member of Swift's celebrity squad while being Kim Kardashian's half-sister, making the feud socially tangled for everyone involved4

HuffPost called Justin Bieber's "Taylor swift what up" post "2016's version of 'Miley, what's good?'"3

Derivatives & Variations

#TaylorSwiftWhatUp:

A sub-meme from Justin Bieber's August 2, 2016 Instagram post during a FaceTime call with Kanye West, which trended as its own hashtag[3]

Reputation snake branding:

Swift's full reclamation of the snake for her 2017 album, including snake video teasers, tour props, and merchandise[2]

Snake emoji copypasta:

A Tumblr post that combined the 🐍 emoji with the "good shit" copypasta format to celebrate Swift's reclamation[6]

Frequently Asked Questions