NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Drama surrounding the removal of imagery at the iconic Bluebird Cafe in Nashville has the general manager setting things straight.

A video recently began circulating of an employee inside the Bluebird explaining Olivia Rodrigo and her team requested the removal of any signs of Taylor Swift during a 2023 performance.

"We vowed to remove any visible signs of Taylor Swift," the employee shared in the video.

Swift was historically "discovered" at the Bluebird at 14 years old after she moved to Nashville as a teenager. She returned to the iconic songwriter's haven in 2018 for a surprise performance.

General Manager Erika Wollam Nichols posted an explanation about the photo situation, stating it is part of the venue's protocol.

I was reaching out today to bring some truth to some questions that have been put out on the internet. So, we did have a filming with Olivia Rodrigo here. Olivia's people did not ask us to remove an image of Taylor Swift. Nobody did. We removed an image of Taylor Swift that was in a position where the filming was taking place. When we have filmings, 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 that photograph was removed from the place it stood.

Our employee, who spoke out of turn about this, did not understand why that image was removed. He spoke carelessly and haphazardly about it, maybe he was trying to be funny? I don't know. But regardless, that image was removed for legal reasons.

All of the images of Taylor in the room remain, except that one that was removed for the broadcast, Her headshot is there, her chair stills stands strong. Other images in the room also had to be removed so please understand, this was not anything between two artists. We support all songwriters all artists and give them equal share. Taylor is a super friend of the Bluebird and we her in the highest esteem. We were honored to have Olivia here and please know they both live extremely high in our regard so I just wanted to clear that up please do not get upset with any of this. It was a mistake on the part of the employee and I'm here to clear that up with you.

Erika Wollam Nichols

So all the pop girlies can calm down, there's no bad blood between the two artists. Images are removed from the space during filming for copyright protection.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/taylor-swift-olivia-rodrigo-bluebird-cafe-photo-drama/