Taylor Swift dropped an incredible video for her newest song, The Man, on Thursday, in which the singer transformed into a bearded male to shine a light on double standards.
As many fans and outlets have noticed, the video is chock full of Easter eggs. Let’s focus on one in particular: Swift’s “man” plays tennis and ends up berating an umpire (played by her father, Scott Swift), complete with flipped double birds, wrecked rackets and thrown balls.
There are a lot of people who think that’s a clear reference to Serena Williams’ meltdown at a chair umpire at the 2018 U.S. Open final after he assessed Williams a warning for allegedly getting coached from the stands by Patrick Mouratoglou, an incident that ignited arguments about the differences in how male and female tennis players are treated.
"You owe me an apology!"
Serena was fired up with the official in the final set of the US Open final. pic.twitter.com/r6RSbrirnV
— ESPN (@espn) September 8, 2018
Here’s the video — at around the 2:25 mark, the tennis scenes begin:
And here’s some discussion on Twitter:
Serena was criticised for her reaction at the US Open final, even though men who've reacted worse in the past were just called "passionate"
Taylor including this in the video for "The Man" while literally singing "If I was a man, then I'd be the man" whew pic.twitter.com/0KDIVyEhEW
— notagainben (@NotAgainBen) February 27, 2020
this representation of serena was so meaningful because as a black women we're always read as angry and unprofessional. what happened in the us open was a demonstration of racism and sexism
if she were a white man she wouldn't be penalized or questioned #TheManMusicVideo pic.twitter.com/JCB4PSspuW— cams | ♡ (@corneliastrwt) February 27, 2020
“You know my character, this is not right. To lose a game for saying that, it’s not fair. How many other men do things? There’s a lot of men out here who have said a lot of things. It’s because I am a woman, and that’s not right.” ~ serena williams #TheManMusicVideo pic.twitter.com/Z3N1kQJP27
— 𝔰 // fan account (@taylucifer666) February 27, 2020
Also, Taylor Swift supporting Serena Williams during the 2018 US Open Final with the Tennis Scene. We Love to see it!#TheMan #TheManMusicVideo pic.twitter.com/BlXdYdM4PW
— Kenny M (@kennaymart) February 27, 2020
Taylor playing a man tennis player who threw a tantrum but got nothing a subtle shade on how they react when it’s a woman esp Serena….. pic.twitter.com/dstJiFFq13
— ⭐️ Just Juliette ⭐️ 🇫🇷🇵🇱🇨🇦💃🏽🐼 (@SussexDetective) February 27, 2020
@taylornation13 Taylor really said “Justice for Serena” #TheManMusicVideo #TaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/5HPClxtNjK
— Marcy Anna (@Ready4Combat82) February 27, 2020
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