Leaked Taylor Swift Call Was a Calculated Move

Kim Kardashian didn't just reignite the feud between Kanye West and Taylor Swift when she leaked a phone conversation between the pair on Sunday. As Vulture reports, she was also dangerously close to breaking recording laws—though TMZ reports Kardashian is actually in the clear. While plenty of states allow you to record a phone call when only one party knows it's being recorded (i.e. the person recording it), California is one of 11 states that require every party on the call know that it's being taped if it's a "confidential communication." Swift says she was definitely not aware she was being recorded and a source tells TMZ that Kardashian and West were in a Los Angeles studio at the time of the call.

So why release it and risk up to a year in jail, per the Guardian? Well, TMZ reports Swift's lawyer actually sent West a letter threatening legal action if he didn't destroy the audio when she found out about the recording months ago. And it went nowhere because a phone call is only considered "confidential communication" if there's no chance of it being overheard. TMZ, which listened to the full call, says West had Swift on speakerphone, which she "no doubt" knew since producer Rick Rubin, who was in the room with West, spoke up several times. What does all this mean? A social-branding expert says Swift might "look bad" now, but Kardashian will come off looking like a bully in the end, per US Weekly. (More Taylor Swift stories.)