Taylor Swift 'Shake It Off' Video Director Defends Promo

The director behind Taylor Swift's new music video for single Shake It Off has defended the promo after it received criticism from Odd Future star Earl Sweatshirt.

The star took to Twitter to slam T-Swizzle's new vid, branding the clip "inherently offensive and ultimately harmful", while also accusing her of "perpetuating black stereotypes".

Responding to Sweatshirt's claims - which he made without even watching the promo - Mark Romanek told Vulture that his admission that he hadn't see the clip "sort of invalidates his observations from the get-go".

He added: "We simply chose styles of dance that we thought would be popular and amusing and cast the best dancers that were presented to us, without much regard to race or ethnicity.

"If you look at it carefully, it's a massively inclusive piece. It's very, very innocently and positively intentioned. And - let's remember - it's a satirical piece. It's playing with a whole range of music video tropes and clichés and stereotypes."

Shake It Off is the first cut to be taken from Swift's new album 1989, which is due for release on October 27.