Calvin Harris and Zayn Malik got embroiled in a bizarre social media standoff Monday over the Scottish DJ’s famous girlfriend, Taylor Swift.
The online argument started when former One Direction member Malik retweeted a post from the account @FemaleTexts that negatively compared Swift to fellow pop star Miley Cyrus regarding their views on paying for music.
After pulling her tunes off Spotify last year, Swift told fans that they could still buy them on iTunes, while Cyrus has been quoted as saying she has “made [her] money” and that she doesn’t care if “no one buys [her] album.”
Harris took Malik’s retweet as a jab at the “Bad Blood” singer, and blasted fired back: “You’ve made your money? Cool…f–k the 99% of musicians who depend on these services to survive right? Yeah F–k em,” he wrote.
In a follow-up tweet, the angry Scot added: “If u don’t get what it means when a successful artist uses their celebrity to benefit every other musician and songwriter in the industry… stay out my f–kin mentions pls.”
https://twitter.com/CalvinHarris/status/633360068096880640
https://twitter.com/CalvinHarris/status/633360134161326080
Malik replied to Harris in a tweet that has since been deleted: “ha you just made an absolute fool of yourself mate,” before adding, “you clearly didn’t understand what I just said either … so I suggest you calm your knickers before them dentures fall out … Oh and I write my own sh-t too d–khead,” he concluded.
@CalvinHarris you clearly didn't understand what I just said either
— zayn (@zaynmalik) August 17, 2015
@CalvinHarris so i suggest you calm your knickers before them dentures fall out
— zayn (@zaynmalik) August 17, 2015
Wisely, Swift took the high road and let the boys bicker between themselves without tweeting on the issue.
Harris eventually called for peace and told Malik that they were “all good,” explaining that “it was the quote not you personally mate … best of luck, genuinely. You’ve got a great voice.”
Last month, it was Swift who was the target of Twitter rage from a fellow star when Nicki Minaj got upset that her record-breaking “Anaconda” was passed over for Video of the Year in favor of Swift’s “Bad Blood.”
“When the ‘other’ girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination,” Minaj wrote during an hours-long Twitter rant.
“@NICKIMINAJ I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot,” Swift tweeted back.
The Twitterverse — including Katy Perry and Piers Morgan — chimed in on the issue, and the pair finally ended the dispute over the phone, Minaj told “Good Morning America.”