The internet lit up this week over rumors that Olivia Rodrigo’s team asked a Nashville café to take down photos of Taylor Swift—and now, the café is setting the record straight.
Erica Nichols, COO and general manager of Bluebird Café, took to social media to squash the speculation surrounding Olivia’s recent visit to the iconic spot.
“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,” she said in a video posted on Wednesday (June 18). “We removed an image of Taylor Swift that was in a position where the filming was taking place.”
According to Nichols, removing the photo wasn’t about artist drama—it was about copyright law. “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,” she explained.
Nichols added that a staff member had initially made comments suggesting the removal was artist-related, which she clarified was incorrect.
“He spoke carelessly and haphazardly about it, maybe trying to be funny, I don’t know. But irregardless, that image was removed for legal reasons,” she said.
She confirmed that Taylor’s other photos remained untouched, and it wasn’t just her image that was taken down—other photos needed to be removed too.
“Please understand this was not anything in between two artists. We support all songwriters, all artists and give them equal share. Taylor is a super friend of the Bluebird, and we hold her in the highest esteem,” Nichols continued. “We were honored to have Olivia here, and please know they both live extremely high in our regard.”
She closed by saying, “It was a mistake on the part of the employee, and I’m here to clear that up so you know that this was something that we were just required to do for legal reasons.”
So, fans can rest easy—there’s no feud, just a little behind-the-scenes housekeeping.
