‘Intrusive thoughts’ … Taylor Swift. Photograph: NBC/Todd Owyoung/Getty Images

The singer was first shown in the promotional video for the tune Anti-Hero reading the judgement “fat” off her bathroom scales

Days after its original release, the music video for Taylor Swift’s song Anti-Hero, the first single from her upcoming album Midnights, was changed to remove the term “fat” from one of its scenes.

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The 32-year-old singer and songwriter climbs onto a bathroom scale in the first video, which was directed by Swift, and the dial turns to read “Fat.” In the updated version of the clip, which can be seen below, Swift goes onto the scale and is met by a doppelganger who is likewise represented by Swift’s disapproving glance, but no reading is shown.

The adjustment follows criticism from certain fans and critics who claimed that the scale scene encouraged “fatphobia.” It’s everyone’s biggest nightmare to look like us, eating disorder therapist and body positivity blogger Shira Rosenbluth said on Twitter, while Teen Vogue writer Catherine Mhloyi called the scenario “lazy”: She took the decision to clearly identify her monster, the fear of being branded fat, or fatphobia in its most literal meaning, by having the word “fat” appear on the scale.

Whoopi Goldberg and other pundits have defended Swift in the past. She remarked on the panel program The View, “Just let her have her emotions; if you don’t like the song, don’t listen to it. “What are you doing spending your time on? Leave Taylor Swift alone if you constantly want to comment on her. Joy Behar continued: What should she weigh, “plump,” according to the scale? It doesn’t function.

TAYLOR SWIFT ACCUSED OF “FATPHOBIA”: Critics are slamming the pop star’s #AntiHero music video because she steps onto a scale that reads “fat,” but her fans are reminding people that she’s been open about her personal struggle with an eating disorder – #TheView co-hosts react. pic.twitter.com/IIS7gnEwSn

— The View (@TheView) October 25, 2022

Swift has been candid about her own issues with binge eating. The performer spoke about how the media’s focus on her physique has at times led her to “starve” herself in her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana. She claimed in an Instagram post after the publication of the Anti-Hero video that it was a reflection of her “nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts”.

Swift’s reps have been approached by The Guardian for comment.

Thanks to Shaad D’Souza at The Guardian whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.