Lorde has apologised after comparing being friends with fellow pop star Taylor Swift as like being around someone with an autoimmune disease.

The 20 year old New Zealand-born singer, who has just released her second album Melodrama, made the rather strange remark in a profile interview with The Guardian at the weekend. Quickly, she received a backlash from Swift’s fanbase who criticised her for the comments that Lorde now admits were “insensitive” – but she said that she hadn’t been addressing Swift directly.

“It's like having a friend with very specific allergies,” she had told the British newspaper in an article published on Saturday (June 17th).

LordeLorde has apologised for her remark about Swift

“There are certain places you can't go together. Certain things you can't do. There are these different sets of considerations within the friendship,” she continued. “It's like having a friend with an autoimmune disease.”

Many thought this was a distasteful thing to say, especially considering Selena Gomez’s recent diagnosis with lupus after years spent battling the autoimmune condition.

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An Australian journalist named Stephanie Anderson had called her out on Twitter, “What an incredibly ignorant analogy to make. I wonder how Selena Gomez feels about this.”

Lorde herself replied to the comment, admitting that she had “f***** up” and was aware that her comment had been “insensitive”. “Didn't mention Taylor, but regardless, I fucked up & that was really insensitive. I'm sorry,” she typed on Tuesday.

The singer’s real name is Ella Yelich-O’Connor, and she’s been friends with Swift since 2014, shortly after she broke through with her huge hit single 'Royals' the year before. Earlier in 2017, Swift threw her friend a pretty wild 20th birthday party.

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