(NewsNation) — The general manager of the iconic Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee, is setting the record straight on Olivia Rodrigo allegedly asking for Taylor Swift’s photos to be removed.
A recent video shows an employee inside the Bluebird claiming that Rodrigo and her team asked them to remove any signs of Swift during her performance in 2023.
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 3, 2019: A crowd gathers outside the iconic Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee, before the start of a show at the popular venue. The small music club features acoustic performances by established and up-and-coming songwriters presenting their own songs in an ‘in the round’ format. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images) 
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 3, 2019: Inscribed publicity photographs of songwriters cover a wall at the iconic Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. The small music club features acoustic performances by established and up-and-coming songwriters presenting their own songs in an ‘in the round’ format. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images) 
NASHVILLE, TN – MARCH 31: Craig Wiseman and special guest Taylor Swift perform onstage at Bluebird Cafe on March 31, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for 13 Management) 
Olivia Rodrigo performs during the FireAid benefit concert on Jan. 30 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) 
Taylor Swift performs during “The Eras Tour” on Dec. 6, 2024, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, file) 
Olivia Rodrigo performs inductee Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) 
FILE – Taylor Swift performs at the Monumental stadium during her Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Nov. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File) 
Olivia Rodrigo arrives at the Governors Awards on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) 
Taylor Swift arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) 
FILE – Olivia Rodrigo performs “Good 4 U” at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 12, 2021, in New York. Rodrigo is nominated for seven Grammy Awards. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) 
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 15: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO STANDALONE PUBLICATION USE (NO SPECIAL INTEREST OR SINGLE ARTIST PUBLICATION USE; NO BOOK USE)) . Taylor Swift performs on stage during the “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at Wembley Stadium on August 15, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images)
The employee claimed, “We vowed to remove any visible signs of Taylor Swift.” Someone off-camera asked, “It’s that serious?” to which the employee responded, “We respect the girlies.”
However, general manager Erika Wollam Nichols posted on X saying that it was all part of the venue’s protocol: “Olivia’s people did not ask us to remove an image of Taylor Swift… We removed an image of Taylor Swift that was in a position where the filming was taking place.”
Rodrigo was at the cafe to film, and Nichols explained that “we are required legally to remove images that are under copyright. We don’t own those images, so we cannot give permission for those images to be used in any kind of broadcast. That’s the sole reason that photograph was removed from the place it stood.”
Nichols said that the employee who was in the video “did not understand why that image was removed. He spoke carelessly and haphazardly about it. Maybe he was trying to be funny?” She then said she wanted to clear up the “mistake on the part of the employee.”
Swift was discovered at the Bluebird when she was 14 years old after recently moving to Nashville. In 2018, she returned to the cafe for a surprise performance.
Olivia Rodrigo dismissed Taylor Swift beef in 2023
During a Rolling Stone interview in 2023, Rodrigo said, “I don’t have beef with anyone… I’m very chill. I keep to myself. I have my four friends and my mom, and that’s really the only people I talk to ever. There’s nothing to say.”
Fans had started speculating that Rodrigo and Swift weren’t the best of friends after rumors that Rodrigo’s song “Vampire” was about Swift. However, at the time, she told The Guardian that she was “very surprised when people thought that… I never want to say who any of my songs are about. I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t.”
In 2021, Rodrigo even said that she would “just love to just be in a studio with Taylor. I don’t even have to write with her. I just want to watch how she does it because I just think she’s such a genius.”
Swift is credited on two of Rodrigo’s songs on her Guts album.