Season 23 of “American Idol” is set to premiere on March 2, and as Carrie Underwood gears up to judge the same singing competition series she won in 2005, a report of an alleged feud with Grammy award-winning singer Taylor Swift has resurfaced.
It seems that the two have experienced several incidents that contributed to their rumored troubled relationship. On Feb. 24, an article titled “Celebs Who Are Not Fans of Carrie Underwood” was published by The List and placed Swift as the very first celebrity mentioned.
Rumors about a rift between them date back to 2012, when Grammy-winning country artists Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood joked about Taylor Swift’s breakup with Conor Kennedy while hosting the CMA Awards. Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., dated Swift briefly for three months before they called it quits in October of that year.
During their opening bit at the CMAs in November 2012, Paisley and Underwood were talking sports when Paisley remarked, “The greatest trade of the year had to be the Kennedy family. They somehow traded Arnold Schwarzenegger for Taylor Swift.” Underwood pretended to whisper the news of the breakup to Paisley before Paisley asked if Underwood thought Swift and Kennedy would be able to mend their relationship. Playing off of the chorus of Swift’s hit song “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” Underwood responded, “Never, never, never never ever.”
A few weeks after the CMA Awards, Swift, who was present when Underwood made the joke, was asked by The New York Times why the cameras didn’t catch her reaction. “They don’t pan to you if you’re not laughing,” she responded.
The following year, Us Weekly published a story titled: “Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood ‘Hate Each Other,’ Will Avoid Each Other at Grammys,” where a source reportedly told the outlet that there was a request made to Grammy executives to keep the two singers separated during the show.
However, days after the 2013 Grammys, Carrie Underwood appeared on “CBS This Morning,” where she was asked about any potential issues between herself and Taylor Swift. Underwood replied, “No, not that I know of, at least.” She even commended Swift for trying different sounds and said she enjoyed Swift’s 2012 single “I Knew You Were Trouble,” which leaned more toward the pop genre.
The Taylor Swift jokes didn’t stop, however. In 2014, as Underwood and Paisley hosted that year’s CMA Awards again, Swift and her drift away from country music became the butt of another joke.
In their opening monologue poking fun of PPTSD (Post-Partum Taylor Swift Disorder) Paisley and Underwood burst into song, singing, ” Who’s gonna fill her shoes?. Who’s gonna be that tall? …Country music is just gonna have to shake it off.”
By 2016, RadarOnline reported that its unnamed source said the ladies still were not on good terms after Swift heard about Underwood bad-mouthing her then-relationship with producer Calvin Harris.
An anonymous source told the outlet, “There has never been any love between Taylor and Carrie But things have become icier than ever between them because Taylor overheard back-stabbing snickers that Carrie disrespected Calvin and called her relationship with him a faux-mance!”
Underwood and Harris began their relationship in March 2015 before calling things off in June 2016.
Last month, after it was announced that Underwood would be performing at the inauguration of Donald Trump, one X user wrote, “In a world full of Carrie Underwoods. Be a Taylor Swift,” above a collage of Underwood and Swift’s photos. This comes months after Taylor Swift publicly backed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Some people disagreed with X user’s post, writing, “I’ll take Carrie, thank you!”
Some were advocates of Swift. One person wrote, “Team Taylor” and another said, “I’d rather be a Swifty than an ‘Undie.’”
Upon the news of Underwood’s White House performance, another video of the pair resurfaced online. In a clip that resurfaced in January from the 2013 Country Music Awards, Swift was spotted looking uncomfortable in response to Underwood performing a skit that mocked the Affordable Care Act.
In the clip, Carrie Underwood joked with her CMAs co-host, Brad Paisley, about how long the process took to sign up for health care online due to the website’s technical issues. “It’s great; I started signing up last Thursday, and I’m almost done,” Underwood quipped before breaking into song about the ACA.
Stars in attendance like Keith Urban and Faith Hill looked visibly uncomfortable with the joke. As cameras zoomed in on Swift, she also appeared uneasy, shifting her eyes back and forth.
Since 2013, neither artist has address the ongoing feud rumors, however, it is worth noting that the two haven’t been photographed together in recent years. Over a decade has gone by and it appears the ladies have moved on.
