On Monday, Taylor Swift got all the smoke from Black Twitter after claiming she knew nothing of the early 2000s R&B group 3LW. The group consisted of Naturi Naughton, Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams. According to The Guardian, the admission stemmed from an ongoing plagiarism lawsuit the trio’s songwriters filed against Swift over the lyrics from her 2014 mega-hit “Shake It Off.”
“The lyrics to ‘Shake It Off’ were written entirely by me,” Swift stated via an affidavit filed earlier this week. “Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song Playas Gon’ Play and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW.”
Black Twitter wasn’t with the 3LW slander and responded as if Swift had talked about each person’s mama.
“Playas Gon Play” is AAVE/Ebonics and apart of Black American culture. A White woman, such as Taylor Swift, could NEVER trademark that saying. That’s what’s not clicking for a lot of her racist fans. It’s time to clean up the ignorance behind our culture again. #3LW pic.twitter.com/EZ2vVkFrRp
— PAULA’S SEASONED GREASE? (@AngieSmiley16) August 10, 2022
how is taylor swift 32 years old and claimingthat she’s never even heard of 3LW?
— hot girl hannah (@LilBlauWow_) August 9, 2022
Not Taylor Swift saying she didn’t know who 3LW were until 2017. ? Girl please. If you knew the Cheetah Girls you knew 3LW.
— lets chat (@iwasbeyonce) August 9, 2022
Wait, so Taylor Swift is claiming that “Shake It Off” didn’t borrow from 3LW? Because I always thought that’s what that was. ??♂️
— Skylar Ezell writer and #AMERICAHASAPROBLEM (@Skylar_Writer) August10, 2022
Taylor Swift said she never heard of 3LW until she got sued for her song…
Now, I’m not saying she’s lying… but I don’t trust white women who have already been caught lying on black people ??♀️
— Kiliwia Elika (@EliseFiction) August 10, 2022
In 2017, Sean Hall and Nathan Butler sued Swift for copyright infringement, noting the lyrics from 3LW’s 2000 hit “Playas Gon’ Play” were eerily similar to the 32-year-old singer’s chorus– “Playas gonna play” and “Haters gonna hate.”
Although a judge threw the case out in 2018, another magistrate approved an appeal in 2021 due to the similarities of the questionable lyrics. The new presiding judge shut down Swift’s request to dismiss the claim, saying there were “enough objective similarities” to allow a jury to settle the case.
Hall and Butler’s attorney, Marina Bogorad, lauded the appellate judge’s decision, saying, “Our clients are finally moving closer to the justice they so richly deserve. The opinion … is especially gratifying to them because it reinforces the idea that their creativity and unique expression cannot be misappropriated without any retribution.”
Swift claimed the chorus’ lyrics stem from phrases, most notably used by Black folks, said in everyday conversations and she heard when she went to school. Ironically, she went to predominantly white schools. Swift also said she had never watched MTV until she was 13, and the song dropped when she was ten.
Whatever the case, Black folks ain’t buying it.
