Anthony Fantano and Halsey are in a feud that went viral recently, stemming from the music critic’s 2024 negative review of the singer’s album The Great Impersonator.
In this album, the 31-year-old artist explores her health struggles while drawing influences from Fiona Apple, Stevie Nicks and more. In late October, Fantano, who runs a YouTube channel by the name TheNeedleDrop, reviewed Halsey’s new album, rating it a “decent 1” out of 10.
The social media personality started The Needle Drop in 2007 as a podcast and later expanded it into a YouTube channel. As of 2026, the channel has over 3 million subscribers and more than 1.2 billion total views.
Fantano’s 2024 review sparked backlash from the Without Me singer’s fans and some critics at that time. It has regained interest after Fantano responded to an X user reflecting on his two-year-old review of Halsey’s album. The exchange went viral, prompting her to respond.
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Everything you need to know about the Anthony Fantano and Halsey feud
Anthony Fantano has gone viral after escalating his feud with Halsey recently. It stemmed from a tweet by X user @NotRealMusic.
In a June 22, 2026, post, the user wrote that it was difficult to understand why there was still so much discourse around the review when the album (The Great Impersonator) itself wasn’t that great. It read:
“I didn’t really agree with how Fantano approached some aspects of his Halsey review but I can’t understand how there’s still discourse about it all this time later It’s not like it’s some great album… how are people still hung up over it.”
Fantano quoted the tweet and replied:
“If they’re more into the review than the album.”
Anthony Fantano’s light jab reignited the conversation and quickly went viral. It prompted Halsey to hit him with a series of sharp tweets. Quoting Fantano’s tweet, she wrote:
“I’m certain my least memorable song will be remembered more fondly and for more time than anything you ever do with your life will be. Everything you say is more “whiny” and “edgy” than I was at any point on that album. But at least I had the excuse of going through chemo.”
In one of the tweets, Halsey called him a “raised-by-4chan edgelord bully.” Anthony Fantano responded by saying something along the lines of “flattered to be on your radar. In another tweet, he replied sarcastically:
“i broke pop music. i’m sorry.”
The back-and-forth between the two turned the 2024 review into a fresh controversy. Fans’ opinions were divided; some called out Fantano for his racist comments in the past and for ridiculing Halsey’s health struggles. Others noted that his sarcasm was just harmless trolling.
This is not the first time that Anthony Fantano has been a part of a controversy. According to a report in Complex, in 2025, he posted an apology addressing resurfaced clips where he reportedly used the N-word.
In a video clip, he said he was “torn apart” on the internet for his alleged offensive comments online. He says:
“The discourse seems to have reached a fever pitch that’s making a lot of people concerned and angry and even thinking I’m covertly a racist, bigoted person. Now, these are the same sorts of allegations that I have fought against and won before.”
In 2017, The Fader published an article accusing Fantano of promoting alt-right sentiments, racism, and sexism through his secondary YouTube channel, thatistheplan. Fantano denied the allegations, stating that his videos were simply satirical rather than political beliefs. He eventually deleted his secondary YouTube channel.
Edited by Aastha Dass