Halsey said Thursday her controversial reply to a tweet by Pitchfork was “clearly a misunderstanding.”
On Wednesday, the music website tweeted a link to its review of Halsey’s new album Manic with the pullquote: “Too much of this album sounds like the amorphous pop that you might associate with a miserable Lyft ride.”
The pop star clapped back via Twitter: “Can the basement that they run p*tchfork out of just collapse already.”
Halsey likely didn't realize Pitchfork is owned by Condé Nast, which is headquartered at New York City's One World Trade Center, a skyscraper near the site of the twin towers that were destroyed by a terrorist attack on Sept. 9, 2011.
Among those calling her out was NBC News digital reporter Ben Kesslen, who tweeted that he was “losing my mind thinking about the person on halsey’s team who had to tell her she just called for the collapse of one world trade.”
Halsey said she “ABSOLUTELY” deleted her original reply upon realizing the connection. “Was just trying to make a joke! Intended zero harm,” she tweeted. “Just figured I could poke at them back with the same aloof passive aggression they poke at artists with.”
Notably, the singer didn't apologize. She subsequently deleted her explanation and cryptically tweeted: “click bait garbage.”
The Pitchfork review of Manic was written by Rawiya Kameir, a former Toronto-based freelance writer whose review of Lizzo’s album last April prompted the singer-rapper to tweet: “PEOPLE WHO ‘REVIEW’ ALBUMS AND DONT MAKE MUSIC THEMSELVES SHOULD BE UNEMPLOYED.”