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Taylor Swift's new video criticised for being 'racist'

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IANS Los Angeles

Singer Taylor Swift's latest music video for her new single "Wildest dreams" is being battered by critics who claim it is racist and pandering to "rich white fantasies" from a colonial era.

The video, which was revealed during the MTV Video Music Award event on Sunday, has a mainly white cast and revolves around two 1950s-era movie stars - played by Swift and actor Scott Eastwood -- filming in Africa, reports dailymail.co.uk.

There are only two black actors, who play soldiers, and they appear in the background. The mock film crew are white.

The footage was also slammed by a number of editorials.

 

Joseph Kahn, director of "Wildest dreams", insists the video is a "love story" and has no political agenda. But music fans have rushed to Twitter to describe it as "colonial garbage".

"'Wildest Dreams' is a song about a relationship that was doomed, and the music video concept was that they were having a love affair on location away from their normal lives. This is not a video about colonialism but a love story on the set of a period film crew in Africa, 1950," Kahn said in a statement.

"Wildest dreams" is a part of Swift's fifth studio album "1989".

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First Published: Sep 03 2015 | 12:58 PM IST

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