Pitbull Addresses Why Kesha's Name Was Removed From the "Timber" Music Video

The 2013 smash hit "Timber," featuring Pitbull and Kesha, was a song that stood as a pillar of music in the 2010s. Though the song was released in 2013, the video has more than 1.5 billion views on YouTube -- and fans of the singers are still paying attention. Viewers were quick to notice that the video had been renamed, changing from "Pitbull – Timber (Official Video) ft. Kesha" to "Pitbull – Timber (Official Video)"

Despite its popularity (and being released more than 10 years ago), it seems that Kesha's name has been removed from the credits on the song's music video. Why did Pitbull remove Kesha's name from the song credits? It doesn't seem to be a move made by the popular musician.

The comments on the "Timber" music video are filled with fans of Kesha's calling out the change, noting Kesha's significant influence on the song.

"If Kesha is not credited well this song is nothing because she is the reason why it was a hit," one commented wrote, while another said, "You’re fooling no one, that's KESHA and she carried this song for years."

On Aug. 18, Pitbull took to X (formerly Twitter) to address the revelation that Kesha's name had been removed from the credits in the "Timber" music video. The post not only tagged Kesha directly but also included a clip of the well-loved music video. Though there was plenty of speculation running rampant online, Pitbull squashed potential rumors with his statement, confirming this was not a move made intentionally by his team.

"[Kesha] and I have an incredible song together,” Pitbull wrote. “Nothing will change this. Team Pitbull is looking into this matter. Always nothing but love for Kesha, Dale!”

Though there had been claims that the pair were in a feud, Pitbull's statement confirmed that there's no secret beef between the two artists.

Following Pitbull's statement online, it seems that someone on his team has moved to put Kesha's name back on the music video. At the time of writing, Kesha's name is now shown in the title of the music video, reading "Pitbull, Ke$ha - Timber (featuring Ke$ha (Official Video))." That said, when searching for the "Timber" music video, the result in the search feed reads "Pitbull - Timber (Official Video)."

It'll likely take some time for the title edit to be reflected in the search function on YouTube, which explains this change, though it's still not entirely clear why Kesha's name was removed in the first place.

Kesha's long-running legal battle against her former producer, Dr. Luke, was eventually settled out of court. Her newest single, "Joyride," is the first song she's put out since the legal proceedings have officially been put to rest.