Remember last week when Papa John’s CEO made some unfortunate comments about the NFL protests – in which mostly African-American football players used their first amendment right to protest the extrajudicial killings of African-Americans – and blamed those NFL protests for their failing pizza sales? Papa John came across as tone-deaf and somewhat racist, which was enough for the American neo-Nazi community to declare that Papa John’s is the official pizza of the alt-right/neo-Nazi community. Papa John’s spokesperson had to issue a surly statement, basically telling the neo-Nazis that Papa John’s doesn’t want their f–king business.
What’s my point? My point is that when neo-Nazis publicly declare that they are on your side, you better make damn sure you shut that sh-t down in a hurry. Taylor Swift has long been held up as “a pure Aryan goddess” by American neo-Nazis, partly because of her “wholesome” image of a blonde white lady who exists to Darth Susan her way through life. Taylor plays a very subtle game when it comes to race, and it’s worth noting that in all of the years where she’s been “embraced” by neo-Nazis, she’s never once made any kind of public statement to shut it down. She’s never said in an interview, “By the way, neo-Nazis, don’t buy my albums, I don’t want your support or your business.” While Taylor’s game used to be subtle, people are really starting to call her out on it. One blogger wrote a piece about just this topic, Taylor and her flirtations with the alt-right. And Taylor’s lawyer tried to shut down that blogger, and now the ACLU is involved.
The ACLU of Northern California today sent a letter to Taylor Swift and her attorney refuting their meritless legal defamation threats against a local blogger. On Sep. 5, PopFront editor Meghan Herning wrote a post titled “Swiftly to the alt-right: Taylor subtly gets the lower case kkk in formation.” The post is a mix of political speech and critical commentary, and discusses the resurgence of white supremacy and the fact that some white supremacists have embraced Swift. It also provides a critical interpretation of some of Swift’s music, lyrics, and videos. The post ends by calling on Swift to personally denounce white supremacy, saying “silence in the face of injustice means support for the oppressor.”
On Oct. 25, Herning received an intimidating letter from Swift and her attorney labeling the blog post as defamatory and demanding that she issue a retraction, remove the story from all media sources, and cease and desist. The letter threatened a lawsuit.
“This is a completely unsupported attempt to suppress constitutionally protected speech,” said ACLU of Northern California attorney Michael Risher.
The letter went on to say that it should serve as an “unequivocal denouncement by Ms. Swift of white supremacy and the alt-right.” But that denunciation would only be known by Herning because the letter also attempts to use copyright law to forbid her from making it public.
“Intimidation tactics like these are unacceptable,” said ACLU attorney Matt Cagle. “Not in her wildest dreams can Ms. Swift use copyright law to suppress this exposure of a threat to constitutionally protected speech.”
Herning contacted the ACLU after receiving the letter, and ACLU attorneys determined the legal claims made by Swift’s attorney is unsupported. The blog post is opinion protected by the First Amendment.
“The press should not be bullied by high-paid lawyers or frightened into submission by legal jargon,” said Herning. “These scare tactics may have worked for Taylor in the past, but I am not backing down.” The ACLU has requested a response from Swift and her attorney by Nov. 13 confirming that they will not pursue a lawsuit.
Hahaha, this is not the kind of publicity Taylor wanted right before her album drops. Oh well, that’s what she gets for not publicly shunning the neo-Nazis who embrace her as their Aryan princess. In the time it took for Taylor to contact her lawyers, get them to issue threats to a random blogger, and then deal with the backlash from the ACLU, Taylor could have just simply tweeted: “By the way, if you’re a neo-Nazi, I don’t want your support. F–k you and the Nazi horse you rode in on.” Poorly played, Tay-Tay.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Taylor likes the Nazi support, that’s why she’s never denounced them.
Yup.
The only people Taylor Swift will denounce are people who criticize Taylor Swift.
Excellent point! 👏🏻
Yup. She only cares about herself. I truly think she is an honest to god narcissist.
I think that’s where she lost me. Some celebs truly don’t respond to ANY rumors (except maybe erroneous reports of their death). I think that’s how I would be if I were famous. Plus, you know the dirty trick, this tactic has been around forever: “I am going to publicly call you a ____ (pedophile, deadbeat, etc) just so you have to deny it. I would just keep my mouth shut. I understand never wanting to come out and publicly say “I am not a Nazi” and “I don’t support Nazis.” That just blows the story up more.
But Taylor responded to MANY critics that were about truly petty things. She has shown that she will respond to things that bother her.
Well said Squissisbig. I agree!
I don’t think she’s a narcissist, but I do think she’s very self centered and hyper sensitive. Which could be said of a lot of celebs, but she takes it to another level. I know it’s hard to “grow up” when you’re in the public eye, but she just lurches from reacting from one critique to another. And as a result, all her talent and any good things she does get sidelined.
If she didn’t want Nazi support, she probably shouldn’t have put the title of her album in Fraktur typeface, or what I like to call, Nazi font.
So true!!
good point!
Wow great point.
Mhmmmm. It was more important to her to shut down criticism than to denounce white supremacy. Make no mistake: this is everything you need to know about Taylor Swift. There’s a reason Breitbart captioned all their tweets with the lyrics to LWYMMD when it came out. She is not a good person.
a) I don’t support Nazis, but don’t tell this to everybody.
b) I don’t support Nazis, but I have nothing against authoritory ways to silence people.
Accurate assessment. She’s scary
These pics of her are horrendous. It’s going to be interesting to see if this album does well and if she will stand the test of time, moving forward. Looks like her hype is fading a bit..
I see no way this album does as well as 1989. The singles are not as strong and people definitely seem less interested in her in general.
Her lyrics she wrote seemed better when she was doing country music. Maybe country music allows for flexibility in terms of allowing her to use more words?
The lyrics for her pop songs are almost…too simple?
Ditto for the melodies.
In both genres, she’s written tons of love songs, but her country music songs seem more advanced.
Her lyrics was better she was still a country singer. They were personal as most of Taylor’s songs, but they’re not petty like the recent ones.
Her older albums (Fearless and Red in particular) were MUCH better, lyrically speaking. She came across a lot more authentic, IMO. The pop music she’s been writing for herself lately has been straight up terrible. It’s sad when the songs she gave to Calvin Harris and Little Big Town were better than what’s on her album.
Red is my favorite Taylor Swift album. I agree her country pop music was much stronger. She found her niche, and her music was catchy enough to be played on country music, top 20, and easy listening radio stations. She got greedy and aimed to become the next Britney Spears or Madonna. It doesn’t suit her at all. She’s not sexy and she can’t dance, so her music better be good, but it isn’t. She would have been much better off if she had tried to emulate Shania Twain or Faith Hill. Stick to country music that borders on easy listening so it has appeal to the masses.
In the first pic she looks just beautiful. The second one she looks like she was trying to look like someone else and it doesn’t suit her. As for her album yes it will be interesting to see her it will survive all the mean-spirited press she is getting right before is released.
I think she’s gorgeous in both pictures.
Do you mean the ‘mean spirited’ press she invites by being incredibly mean spirited herself, all those snake emoji’s aimed at her weren’t for nothing.
This reminds me of the time Beyoncé tried to get a bad photo taken off the internet. To be a celebrity, is to relinquish some control of your image. Best to shrug it off and move along, especially if you’re already making money hand over first.
Also, I wish Taylor would stop trying to do the vampy, sexy look. It just doesn’t work well for her. It seems like overkill whether she’s on the red carpet or acting in a video. Which is odd because she has all the right pieces, but I think her personality prevents the execution.
Yep, it’s called the Streisand effect, from when Barbra tried to get a photo of her house deleted from the internet.
I don’t get why she keeps trying to do *sexy* either.
She seems to have only two settings: awkward dork or fairytale princess. And you know what? THAT’S OK..not every woman can pull off the image of sexy, strong and empowered and sell it in a believable way.
She’s outgrown the fairytale princess routine. Getting a little long in the tooth for that, chronologically and otherwise. I said last week I wouldn’t post on her threads anymore, but they’re always here! I laugh every single time I see her mean girl face! I can imagine her with her best friend or cat or some such thing, practicing in the mirror… is this a good one! It’s easy to goof on the Kardashians, but easier with her because she believes the hype. Maybe this will be the last post on her, so over it.
I think she could pull off a sort of boss woman sex appeal. Someone that’s sexy because they’re hustling and making moves. Hat works for her because it’s true—and I fight that more appealing, tbh. Her business acumen is great. However, she’s not sexy in the standard sense. I remember she did a cover for GQ or some men’s magazine once and I just didn’t buy it. It was all sorts of awkward.
@ Kitten, Yes I agree. Her trying to emote a sexy badass look does NOT work for her. You’re right, it’s ok that she can’t pull it off. Not all women can pull off that look. I feel like it is too try hard.
I miss the days when pop music was lighter and happier, nowadays I noticed that a lot of videos are dark, the styling, the ambiance…the lighter videos are often cartoonish with a very explicit sexual undertone. Britney Spears said something similar once…she missed how videos were simple, light-hearted and fun back then without the heavy sexual charge and multiple wardrobe changes. Even Taylor Swift has gone “dark” I never enjoyed her music but that image of the good girl gone bad does not suit her.
I hope reputation flops! Big time! The music sucks, Joe is gorgeouse only in her head, in real life he looks 12 and don’t even get me started on her apolitical silence and approval of white supremacists.
I hope you get what you deserve, missy!
Nah this is only going to help her and most people wont even hear of it. It will sell well.
It says a lot that Taylor is going after a no-name blogger and not the alt-right/racists. The blogger didn’t even say she’s racist although wonders why Taylor doesn’t distant herself from the racists.The story is more about how racists and their blogs like to use Taylor’s image for their benefit.
They compared her to Hitler? Is that much different from calling someone a racist or nazi?
They said she uses imagery similar to Hitler, that’s not saying she is Hitler. Far fetched? Maybe. Worth a defamation lawsuit? Nope.
@Anatha A It is very heavily implying that she is the same as Hitler. How is that even remotely okay?
It is not. There are bands that have been accused of that for years. Hurts and Rammstein have this nazi-imaginery accusations following their whole careers. Both bands spoke out about it and that was it.
I think it has less to do with ideology and more to do with money. The neo-Nazis will buy her albums; a blog like this might hurt her sales. I genuinely believe the only philosophy she holds is “Taylor Is The Fairest Of Them All”.
alt-right/racists is a big part of her fandom. If she said like Kaiser suggested – F*ck you, I don’t need your money(like Eminem recently said to his fans) – she will alienate too many fans and she can’t afford it, especially now, when only her fans can safe selling of her new album. And she needs to keep them if she want to go back to country music again. She didn’t say a word in years about her “Aryan goddess” status. There are ony two reasons why she accept it: 1. She is alt-right and racists or 2. She is so much money hungry, that it isn’t important for her that a lot of money comes from racists people. Either it is 1 or 2 she is patetic and I’m glad jurno start calling her for it.
is it true that alt-right/racists are a big part of her fandom though? is there any evidence of this? i’m just not convinced. afaik most her fanbase is made up by very young people, not the alt-right.
i despise the fact she doesn’t shut this down, but i think it’s important to get the facts right.
Yeah I don’t know about that. She’s pretty huge, sells a shit-ton of albums and the Alt-Right only make up a small faction of the American population. Pretty sure she could tell the Alt-Right to f*ck off and she wouldn’t even notice a dip in sales.
Also, I find it REALLY hard to believe that the tiki torch crowd is running around singing “Gorgeous” in between burning effigies and chanting “Jews will not replace us”. As ell said, I’d like to see some actual evidence that Nazis are huge Swift fans instead of people just repeating this as fact. As far as I know, these dudes listen to fashwave and punk rock, not corny-ass pop love songs.
I suspect that the neo-Nazis are a very small part of her fandom. I don’t think that Taylor is sympathetic to their views, but I don’t think she wants to engage politically at all. She just wants to sing her love songs and rake in the money. Unfortunately for her, the current cultural climate is much as the blogger described and demands a stance from those who, for better or for worse, work to define today’s culture.
I think it’s more like young white girls are her core fanbase. Many probably come from households that support Trump and are much too tolerant of his racist rhetoric. So it’s not so much the hardcore alt-right and neo-Nazis she’s worried about offending, it’s the neo-Nazi lite deplorables. Frankly, she probably comes from a similar household.
Maybe not neo-Nazis, but her fandom tends to skew conservative (there was a NYT feature where they mapped out the fandoms of the top 50 artists in the US; Swift is most popular in rural areas of the West and Midwest: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/upshot/music-fandom-maps.html)
Ok yeah THAT I can buy. I can picture white sorority chicks who think it’s funny to wear blackface at Halloween or dress up as a racist Mexican caricature on Cinco de Mayo being Taylor Swift fans for sure, I just don’t see her appealing to the hyper-alpha-male toxic masculinity vibe of Alt-Righters. Like, I could see them defending her online particularly when she is being critiqued by people of color but I don’t see them spending money on her albums.
@Kitten, I don’t know the specific makeup of alt-right groups in the US. But I do know that it’s not that black and white over here. The lines are blurred and the image we have of these groups tends to be skewed and heavily influenced by stereotypes perpetuated in the media. I think we realized that when white women voter f*cked everyone during the election.
I saw these maps for the first time when Eminem showed up with his freestyle at the BET awards. I can’t even tell you why but I always assumed he would be preaching to the choir. He was not. He was telling many of his fans to go f*ck themselves.
There’s a reason she has not come out and commented. I think one reason is that she just doesn’t understand this stuff and knows it. Second, well … money. She is stone cold business woman and while I admire that, it can also lead to this. I’m not impressed.
The choice to abstain from the political firestorm happening right now reeks of privilege. It’s pretty much, “I’ll abstain from speaking out against hate that’s literally killing people while I make money from my complicit silence.” Yes it’s always a choice, and choices like silence also carries a deafening message.
@jammypants i don’t care one way or another about TS, but my god it is refreshing not to hear about a celebrity’s political views. Their opinion is not in any way more important or more informed than my next door neighbour’s. Why should they have access to this giant celebrity loudspeaker to air their views? Is it because she has a huge young fanbase and could possibly influence then? dont you find this terrifying? Instead of teaching kids critical thinking, we ask for pop stars with limited education to inform them? Why do we care about her political views? How does this impact the health care debacle, gun laws, the syrian war or the nuclear threat? She is only a singer. isnt it about time that entertainers were taken off the ridiculous pedestal we built for them? Isn’t the election of the guy from “The Apprentice” to the office of president of the US, the absolute culmination of this toxic celebrity culture? It serves to detract from actual intellectuals whose job it is to dissect politics.
So no, i couldnt care less about TS’s political views even if she was a leftish socialist after my own heart.
@MrsBump
It isn’t a political issue. It is a morality issue.
I agree 100%. Taylor’s detractors are portraying her like the anti-Christ, and it isn’t fair. Why aren’t we giving Taylor the benefit of the doubt?
I believe because Taylor knows very well that the Nazis love her. it’s been going on for years. She’s very controlling about what is said about her, her silence speaks volumes to me. Papa Johns and others denounced, but Taylor has been silent on this topic for years.
Because summer of 2016 proved she cannot be trusted. Also this is NOT NEW. This ideology has been around for years. If she wanted to say something she would’ve but for her its about $$
Hence why she felt no guilt capitalizing on a racist trope YET AGAIN when it suited her.
Wait wait wait, what? She’s been given the benefit of the doubt throughout her entire career!
Swift’s suing of the blogger brings up several issues, including:
(1) Swift’s silence about Nazis claiming her as their Aryan princess. If she/her team can comment on stories like how she was said to have been carried out to her SUV in a suitcase to avoid paps, and if she/her team sues her fans on using her image in Esty stores, then it appears to indicate that she/her team purposefully decided to not comment on Nazis and other racists using her image.
(2) Swift’s targeting of someone who likely doesn’t have the legal knowledge or financial (or other) resources to fight back. The blog has maybe 70 followers? Plus that blogger is not the only person who has published something critical of Swift regarding her silence.
(3) Related to #2, the chilling effect on free speech by moneyed people generally (see, e.g., Gawker and Gothamist).
(4) Swift’s targeting of stories that she/her team deems to be critical of her generally. Several journalists tweeted stories about how they’ve also received cease and desist letters.
The article was dodgy, but it was on a website with a small readership; their twitter account had 76 followers. If Tays team had ignored it, no-one would’ve noticed it.
By the same token why hasn’t legal action been issued to Breitbart or the KKK? Breitbart tweeted a load of her lyrics pretty much co-opting her as a fight-wing role model.
Because this site is small fry with limited legal support. Now the ACLU is involved highlighting her clueless legal team and pr.
Because Taylor has no problem with those sites and their views.
See another reason i don’t F with Darth Becky. First of all she should’ve shut this down five years ago. But she didn’t because she likes having the support of the kkk contingent. Second this is why people say she’s a snake. There’s nothing that article said that hasn’t been written before about her. If she doesn’t want that narrative she should probably stop being an Aryan princess.
Whomever said her album was the perfect anthem of 2017 was right.
DARTH BECKY Oh this is brilliant!
Credit goes to the root writers for the Darth Becky moniker
You said it all.
Ira Madison tweeted that she got his article pulled off MTV last year during the “day of the receipts” — he posted it on Medium. It was totally harmless!
There were several journalists who tweeted similar stories.
i’m usually on her side because the overwhelming majority of criticism towards her is just plain misogynist, but this is nagl. and it does make me wonder whether she doesn’t shut this stuff down because she agrees with it, or doesn’t have a strong enough opinion to shut it down. which is awful either way.
Or option three: she doesn’t shut it down, because alt-right buy her stuff and the money is worth more to her than any kind of integrity.
idk about that. she’s ridiculously rich at this point, if she had a strong opinion on this she would speak up and nothing at all would change in her bank account.
If anything the rich are rich, because they crave money more than anyone else. Taylor is known to be a perfectionist about selling herself and her stuff to her fanbase. Her money-grabbing schemes are second to none. I can’t see her even risking to alienate one fan by denouncing anything political.
Have you seen all the brands she “co operates” with for her album and tour? She certainly does not think she is rich enough.
@QueenB i’m open to a discussion, but i struggle with the i hate taylor prejudice. it’s boring and it doesn’t bring anything to the discussion. the brand thing is something every artist who can does, it has nothing to do with her political apathy. and it’s what i’m wondering, is it apathy because she doesn’t care or because she agrees with it?
i don’t buy the money thing, there’s more to it. katy perry is also rich, also has sponsors and brands and the whole lot, and yet she speaks out politically. this is what i mean.
I agree with you, ell. I tune out 95% of Tay Tay criticism because it’s just so shallow. This is an actual complaint I have with her. If we’re talking honest Nazis, what is that, like 8-10% of the population, max? Too much for a society to have but not really a make or break amount of potential buyers. I don’t know why she doesn’t just shut this down. It really would only take a single tweet to clarify.
I am so glad you covered this!
The fact Ms Swift put lawyers in it is so poorly played and shows complete ignorance to me. I don’t think she’s obligated to showcase her political preferences (yeah, I stand by that one), but wouldn’t it be easier just to say the article is not true herself? Involving threaths seems to me like she feels guilty.
And don’t get me started on the “copyright law” argument. She thinks everything is copyright law (like “this sick beat”, etc)
If you’re being held up as the Aryan princess and you don’t want Nazi support you should probably say something.
Exactly! It’s not that hard to speak out against them.
Yep. It’s not that hard to denounce Neo Nazis. Funny how we had to point that out to a certain D.J. Trump as well.
This is why I will never understand Swift PROUDLY referring to herself as a snake. She IS a snake!
What exactly is her deal? Many very successful people are narcissistic and lack genuine empathy. It actually helps them be successful. She does ping as disingenuous even when she’s doing something nice. Probably growing up in the business has done her no favors. She has a very self-centered world view.
Although some of her music in the past has been catchy, I’ve never warmed up to her. The fake dating thing just gives me manipulative fembot vibes. There’s no way these famous men are lining up to date this block of ice. Then again, men can be very stupid. But still, Taylor is a tone-deaf emotionless void faking her way through life.
Yes, Taylor should have just nicely told them KKK, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, that she was not interested in being their pop music princess and/or goddess. They already have a goddess which is Ann Coulter. I personally do not believe Taylor is a racist person and she needs to quickly shut this nonsense down by making a statement before it hurts her brand.
Let’s be honest, there are some people out there who want to see her career destroyed and they are willing to use any unproven tactic they can. I am just saying.
This is scary. Makes me question her silence and why she allows herself to be a poster child for evil.
No matter, she has a young fan base and they are impressionable and this is what the NN loonies live for. Taylor needs to close her snake maw, grow a pair and denounce the Nazi scum who worship her.
Poor, precious, innocent Tay Tay. She’s just trying to live her Polly Pocket life with her real-live Ken doll (British version, genitalia sold seperate) and the big, mean blogger is saying big, mean (and totally valid) things. Woe is Snake Princess Tay Tay.
As a certified swifty fan I hate to see her called a nazi. I don’t think she should be forced to announce her politics but she does need to come out and denounce nazism and alt-right crap.
Having said that, that article was written by someone determined to see only what supports their theory. The writer only interpreted the lyrics to fit some nazi agenda, instead of how they fit taylor.
i’m not a taylor hater, i’m known to always defend her on CB in fact, but i’m beginning to have tons of problems with her attitude towards political/cultural issues.
i mean, in theory she shouldn’t be forced to declare her political ideology, but we live in the current times we live in, and i don’t believe many people can afford to be that ambiguous. it does make me think less of her.
You’re right that she shouldn’t be forced to reveal her personal politics…. EXCEPT she made a big show adopting the feminist title for her last album. One cannot align themselves with such a huge political/social movement only to benefit herself and her own image then remain silent and absent when it no longer serves her immediate need. She can’t attack independent bloggers with a tiny reader base and sue her fans for using her song lyrics on tshirt, then completely ignore the Nazis using her face, name, AND lyrics for their purposes. It’s not that she is silent, it’s in what ways she’s silent that looks so wrong.
Other reports (like on Lainey) include details that she’s also sent cease and desist letter to nazi sites that use her image without permission but that never gets reported here because it doesn’t fit the narrative.
Yup Erica, CB would never cover that.
This is reaaally bad for her. She tried to shut down an article instead of answering for it, giving much more credit to the article itself.. so now I fully believe it (not that I didn’t before, I was just ‘meh’) and am kind of enraged at her.
In her defense, her style is only to call out anyone that directly tries to defy her. She will never call out any group for liking her
This isnt the only case, other journalists have come forward:
https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/108320784.html
She really is like Trump: Super thin skinned and attacks the media and tries to control them.
Not surprising
Well this has become pretty awkward I’m guessing she’s going to say something soon it’s a bit much to ignore and be silent on at this point.
I don’t think she has to tell anyone not to buy her stuff. All she had to say is that she is not a nazi and believes in equality, im surprised she’s never done this. A very good example of how much more effective it would have been to say it right away! People who sell things aren’t obligated to tell bad people not to buy their stuff. Almost no artist or company does this. Who knows maybe music will make people more compassionate. Maybe it will reduce their stress and risk of violence
She could write a song denouncing racism and violence. Why hasn’t she thought of that, if she doesn’t care to engage in political speech?
She’s a fluff pop singer, why should she have to denounce Nazi’s? She never asked to be anointed an Aryan princess. Being white isn’t something she can change. I’d imagine she probably has enough threats to her personal safety without inviting more. The real crime is her penchant for litigation and legal threats over any little bit of nonsense. Her lawyers must really like draining her bank account on the pretence of protecting her image, but ultimately she is being played.
Because she calls herself a feminist. Plenty of celebrities who are just as much at risk of harm as she is have not been afraid to denounce white supremacy and Donald Trump, and a lot of them are white too. The ones who aren’t white have more to worry about when it comes to facing Nazi violence than she does. I really don’t think fear of physical harm is her real motive. At best her worry is financial ‘harm’ and losing her popularity with the deplorables. I’m hoping it’s not something worse than that. I don’t really think that’s what it is, but this right here is bad enough. It’s not about asking her to apologize for being white though.
And then we have this from USA Today:
“Joseph Kahn, the director of a half-dozen music videos by Swift, including the one for Look What You Made Me Do, weighed in on the flap on Twitter. “Let’s remember there’s one major recording artist who has publicly endorsed a white supremacist,” he tweeted — with a photo of Kanye West and Donald Trump.”
I judge Kanye for that too (and his misogyny over the years). His hypocritical pro-Trump nonsense did come at a time when he was having a mental health crisis, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he wouldn’t have felt that way if he had been doing better. It could have been self-absorption and attention-seeking and not his mental health problems.
Still, this is deflection on the part of Taylor Swift’s team. Just like Harvey Weinstein’s decades of abuse and preying on women doesn’t make criticism of people who voted for Trump invalid, one mentally ill celebrity verbally supporting Trump, (while not actually going out to vote for him and while his family’s donations went to the democrats) doesn’t mean this feminist pop star gets a pass for the way she’s handling racism within her own fanbase.
And isn’t Joseph Kahn the one who pulled the ‘innocent blonde girl’ card a while back?
Yes to all of this, plus the fact that she/her team are using an Asian man to deflect and blame a black man for her/her team’s own mistake is incredibly troubling.
Joesph Khan will never get out of the friend zone, no matter how he tries to White Knight.
Why should she denounce the alt-right/neo-Nazis/whomever? They pay money just like the rest of everyone else. Like most mediocre white women performers she will get a pass and continue to put out music, even if it flops. The backlash some folks hope to see when this happens isn’t ever going to come. She’s mad at the blogger but the racists get a pass. Makes her look like a racist, too, then.
And this isn’t even the first time she’s tried this – this is just the first person to call her bluff and I’m glad they did.
Her strong arm tactics to bring people in line is bad enough – especially when you’ve reached a level of super stardom that should have given you a thick enough skin to shrug off criticism. But to continue to remain silent about the Americans Nazis using you as their symbol of female Aryan perfection and not offering any semblance of a statement distancing yourself from it, especially when the country is in the state that it is currently in, is unforgivable.
She doesn’t say anything because she doesn’t have a problem with it. No wonder she’s tried to go on such a charm offensive with her fans before the record release.
A lot of her core support comes from very conservative right wingers (and their children). They’re the contingent that takes her from being a regular successful pop star, to a pop star that’s capable of selling a totally obscene amount of albums and concert tickets. Without them she’s still huge, but not as huge, and not nearly as wealthy. She likes money, she likes breaking records, she likes being on top. She needs those fans for that, and her being apolitical is a really important part of keeping them, especially as she’s moved away from her whole wholesome, virginal country girl look.
She’s not going to denounce anyone or get political unless she thinks she can replace the fan base she loses with another. She’s self-interested above all.
This. Her alt-right fan base may be relatively small but her conservative base isn’t. And there’s often a very thin line between the ultra-conservative and the full on alt-right/neo-nazi crowd. She’s not going to risk alienating those folks by speaking out.
I agree with this 100%. She doesn’t care about the alt-right, she cares about the super conservatives who might be racists, but don’t consider themselves alt-right.
The fact that denouncing racism has become “political speech” is disgusting to me.
I seem to distinctly remember a pic of her next to a guy at some party wearing a swastika on his t-shirt, so forgive me if I find it hard to give her the benefit of the doubt here.
Yeah, at a party thrown by Katy Perry.
I usually defend her because I feel like people get pretty nit picky about her but I can’t with this. The fact that her wanting to make money is more important than denouncing people who would like to see me and my family killed for no reason other than we’re black is too much and I’m done.
I’ve never liked Taylor Swift for a couple of reasons and usually try to avoid things related to her, but over the past year that dislike has definitely grown because of shit like this. I can’t stand her. She was too afraid to confirm that she didn’t vote for Trump or denounce him and what his supporters stand for because she didn’t want to alienate them (And that’s best case scenario for the motive behind her silence). That’s combined with her message to people to just get out and vote, as if who one voted for in this election didn’t really matter, as long as they voted. She silently accepts this racist, worshipful Nazi support. Then when given the chance to accept valid criticism, stand for something, and send a positive message by denouncing that sector of her fanbase, she acts like THIS instead. It all just paints a very nasty picture of her. At best, she doesn’t really care that much about racism- at least not when caring may potentially lose her the most vile members of her fanbase. Being poor wouldn’t really be an excuse for that mentality, but the fact that she’s already so wealthy and so famous makes it even more selfish, scary, and ridiculous.
Really appreciate your thoughtful comment, otaku.
Exactly.
Swift is dumb as a bag of nails. She is literally just the face of a alt right supporting machine that wants her to make as much money as possible. That means they don’t want to her to have any opinions about anything except her breakups. It’s so cringy and pathetic.
Yea this is a bad look for her. She needs to grow up a little and realize she’s not allowed to scary bloggers who say things about her she doesn’t like.
This just makes me appreciate artists like Eminem all the more.
And this is the last time I ever read/click anything about Taylor Swift again.
Fvck her and her “music”.
Hmmm, Swifty and I have some things in common. I am around the same height and Aryan looking. Everyone guesses I am Nordic particularly Norwegian, and as a Jew, I find this profoundly unsettling, and it has made for some uncomfortable moments, but I have never once been accused of being a racist. I know other “Aryans,” and No they have never been accused of being Nazis. Since it isn’t her looks then I wonder what it could be?
I mean Claudia Schiffer is actually German and…No, I never heard anyone call her a Nazi. In fact, I don’t know ANYONE who has ever been thought to be a bigot or remotely sympathetic to a hate group.
We should ask the minority women that were in her squad; surely they have an opinion. Oh, there were none. Awkward. Selena but then she asked Zendaya, and she said they were too white and maybe racist. I guess tokenism is so 1989.
She did praise Republicans and played at their National Convention in 2008 and engaged in a war with the most hated black rapper by the bigots who is also married to a white woman. Beyonce is in the mix, and they hate Bey.
You know who else bullies with lawsuits? 45. Why is this so threatening if there is no truth to it? How hard is it to denounce them? You know who else couldn’t condemn them? 45.
It isn’t a stretch, so therefore she can’t be defamed.
She doesn’t want to ask Zendaya because she pulled herself from taylor’s “squad” and confirmed it on twitter. My guess is she didn’t like what she saw there either
That is the problem, isn’t it?
I don’t know what she believes, BUT these theories can be given credence because she doesn’t denounce them. None of the things I listed make her racist but when she says nothing then it is easy to make a case if a person wanted to. It should be horrifying to be linked to those people.
But she hasn’t in all these years.
Why is what I want to know. I don’t hate or like Swifty and have no dog in this fight, but I do when we have a Nazi in the White House and need them to be seen for the hatemongers that they are. They are dangerous, violent people who took a life in Virginia.
I don’t understand it.
Yeah revealing yourself as a media bully isn’t really a good look when promoting an album about how you think you’ve been wronged. The blogger had some (admittedly far-fetched) opinions even though opinions aren’t presented as fact, but nope, Swifty had to go on her power trip anyway.
Not that this will hurt her sales, she’s already got a ton of pre-orders but come on, why not just say you don’t support Nazis? I think we can agree Nazis are bad, and she’s been shown to be hypervigilant over what people are saying about her online, there’s no way she doesn’t know the alt-right is using her image as Aryan Barbie.
This move will hardly generate new fans.
Maybe I should put on my glasses, but the combination of the dark lipstick and overly whitened teeth makes it seem like she is foaming at the mouth. This really should have been caught during production.
Can’t. Stop. Laughing. What a disaster to happen before your album drops. Not just this but everything that has been happening the last month. Her songs are panned and free falling on the charts, her videos are panned, her boyfriend is mocked because of her song to him and the Prada photos, and now the world is getting to see how big a bully she really is. Other journalists are even sharing their stories. Girl has never been a victim but a bully pointing fingers and she just overplayed that hand too.
I don’t care about her politics or what she thinks of the world, but her thin skinned nature is hilarious. Reminds me of someone.
Oh boy, this is going to be a long winter of Taylor getting dragged. She has used up most of her goodwill and no one is going to indulge anything from her other that really great pop music.
She wants to be praised and glorified by all even if they are white supremacist hate mongers. Praise me or fear me is the New/ same Taylor.
Please she suing them because she wants nothing from them.
I think she made the wrong move, she should have ignored it or simply made a statement condemning anyone involved in the kkk, but I also don’t think this blogger should have the right to pretty much say she is a nazi lover. Hate her, hate her music, in fact tear everything about her apart, but don’t throw around her being linked to an organization like the KKK. I think that one thing is too far.
A bit off-topic maybe, but that thumbnail of her on the main page, with that dark lipstick and horrid expression is just…terrifying. I cringe every time I see it.
I liked her for about five minutes when she first hit the scene. After that, nope.
She is embarrassing. Her likes on Tumblr are embarrassing. Her Fans are trash and he music too . She knows nothing about life
She has a history of not commenting on “political” things. She was notably silent throughout the election and never publicly denounced Trump or endorsed anyone and I truly wouldn’t be surprised if she voted for Trump to be honest. I get not wanting to dignify every rumor with a response but she hardly uses her platform to denounce anything unless it’s something that implicates her directly like her sexual assault case. Not surprised that she won’t denounce Neo Nazis.
I absolutely LOVE it when justice is served.
Especially following a record-breaking weekend for Thor Ragnarok. 👍😊😊
#Karma 🐍
Well TS always talking about Karma. Now she know how it feels. And I just read that she won’t give journalists a chance to review her album before it release.She know it is a garbage apparently 🙂 This move is so bad, especially after this ACLU drama.
Her Dads FB posts are very conservative. The one I remember off the top of my head is he’s very Blue Lives Matter. She probably holds the same conservative beliefs or she doesn’t want to publicly go against her conservative parents. She grew up in a rich conservative family. She was spoiled and sheltered. I think she has very thin skin and believes everyone who doesn’t like her is wrong.
Anyone noticed how the letter claims she’s been vocal in her denouncement of white supremacy, yet…if you google, you find absolutely nothing? Show us the receipts Tay.
Her hideous personality is starting to show in her outward appearance. In her latest videos she looks off. Her facial expressions are horrifying, and she just generally looks unwell.
Taylor threatened to sue her Guitar teacher… her guitar teacher!!! and she can’t publicly denounce the white supremasist that call her their Aryan goddess’?!
Sometimes, silence is louder than words
Yeah…the guitar teacher. That was the breaking point for me. I could never like anything from her after that bigly crap.
Lamey is still trying to say that it was all Tom’s idea that he be pushed out so everyone can know that he was the snake’s boyfriend while Joe is silent. As if any of these guys had a say in the matter. Methinks tom’s Team got under her skin when they called her out on gossip cop. Her bias is so obvious.
how did they call her out? I did not see that.
She tried to spread the rumor that swift fans created that Tom and TS were still together and she was flying out to see him. Tom’s team responded via gossip cop that she was wrong and wrong often. Considering those who write on that blog like to imagine themselves as experts (despite being wrong often), they were clearly stung by this.
If Taylor sicks her lawyers on even small, insignificant blogs like this, how often does she go after everyone else? I can’t imagine what her legal bill must be like. When Calvin tweeted she controlled the media, I assumed he meant the usual quid pro quo – favorable coverage in exchange for exclusive stories. I had no idea her team routinely chases after even the most minor of slights and intimidates people into retracting or deleting. It must be exhausting (and expensive) to maintain a hyper-vigilance about ones image the way Taylor does.
REALLY poorly played.
But maybe this IS the type of publicity Taylor wanted right before the album drop. Oh, the mean blogger! Oh, the mean ACLU! She loves victim PR. And the Swifties eat it right up. And she, much like Trump, is not going to denounce the nazis or kkk. Trump knew he’d get their votes just like Taylor knows she’ll get them to buy her album, merch, concert tix.
Man I’m in the minority here because if there was a viral article getting pushed by major news outlets claiming I was a Nazi based on a personal interpretation of my work I would want that sh*t down too. Defamation of character is defined as when false statement is written or spoken about an individual with the intent of harming or slandering their reputation. Now, maybe the author can prove she didn’t intend to cause harm but if Taylor does lose money because people think this is fact (and judging by these comments you all already do think it’s fact without any evidence other than she didn’t specifically tell people go out and vote for Hillary) then I think she has a case.
Not sure how copy write law applies to this but maybe that’s just in regards to reposting the letter she was sent (like what Kimye did)?
Buuuuut I know when it comes to Taylor logic doesn’t apply because people just love to hate on Taylor for anything and everything she does or doesn’t do…
I am not sure logic is your friend. History isn’t.
This article was not pushed out by major outlets until AFTER her team threatened to sue them and the ACLU got involved.
Not true. It was reported on this site, 2 other gossip blogs and it was also on CNN’s site as a headliner story before she sued the blog.
There were no false statements. That’s the key to Meghan’s right to free speech. She cited factual instances as examples but she never once claimed Swift is a Nazi. Swift cannot prove lies were told about her. She could say that insinuations were made, but that’s not libel.
Did you read the ACLU’s response letter? They explain the law very clearly and as it applies to this case.
By your logic, then Swift’s exes and other enemies can sue her for defamation as well since her songs often have “false statement [that] is written or spoken about an individual with the intent of harming or slandering their reputation.”
I am not sure if Swifty’s fans care about neo-nazis admiring Swifty.
Honestly, I don’t. But not because I don’t care that they exist but because I don’t believe she’s done anything to encourage or invite their praise… maybe other than being tall, white & blonde which really aren’t things she can help as she was born that way.
And I don’t believe she needs to publicly say she’s not a Nazi because I think it’s ridiculous anyone thinks that way about her to begin with. It’s giving attention to something that I believe deserves to be ignored.
I didn’t know about this issue before this article so I can give Swifty the benefit of the doubt that she hasn’t noticed either.
Honestly, the hypocrisy is maddening. Swift has made millions off writing and selling music about men who wronged her. She insinuates they are douche bags and has malicious intent. But b/c it’s done in the form of “art”, it’s viewed differently. Perhaps Meghan Hernig should continue her rant in song – it would be safer and would probably go viral.
Taylor has once again drawn attention to herself about an issue that few would have been aware of it she hadn’t made a big deal about it = Streisand Affect. I, for one, think that’s intentional and was the purpose of her PR team in the first place.
If I were Tay Tay, I’d be much more worried about what Diplo had to say regarding kids being the money and now streaming what they want rather than listening to music forced on them. I say forced, b/c radio plays certain genres – pop, country, easy listening, rap/hip hop. Most stations are the first three genres. Kids now want rap and hip hop. They stream it.
I know a lot of people who listen to Swift’s music, but I don’t know anyone who actually buys it. They might buy a song but they certainly don’t buy albums and that’s adults. Kids don’t buy any music. They stream and mostly rap/hip hop. I’m going to choke on my own words if Taylor puts out a hip hop album. My guess is she will start collaborating with rappers and hip hop artists. I hope the rappers and hip hop artists stay true to themselves and don’t do anything embarrassing.
Sometimes it’s just like we see it…
Yeah, I like her. No, I don’t think she’s a Nazi. But yes, she should have shut that sh!t down a long time ago. I can understand not wanting to get to much into politics. But girl – Nazis. Run tf away and do not look back. I don’t think it’s fair to compare her to Papa John since he basically asked for it and she didn’t (to my knowledge) but still; when Nazis support your brand, you absolutely have to make it clear you’re not cool with it.
Yeah, I’m usually on Swift’s side, but this is a turning point. Denounce the fucking Nazis, Tay-Tay!
Just do it!
You absolutely don’t have to address every dog that barks but I can’t imagine allowing my silence to imply in any form or fashion thst I support any organization of that caliber.
Earlier this year a white supremacist dipshit called Depeche Mode their Alt-right band. Depeche mode quickly denounced them. They’re still making music and they’re still going strong.
Is it that hard to denounce something that’s truly icky? Or is she afraid of losing “fans” ? You can denounce and still protect your brand.
Depeche Mode doesn’t have the same kind of fan base which Swifty has. While DP might not lose many fans if they denounce such people then Swifty would. Swifty is greed and profit over humanism and social/community engagement.
I don’t like Swifty. Never did. Fake bake plastic barbie.
My bet is that Swifty knows full well that a lot of her fans are right wingers bordering on Neo-Nazi-ism or at least people who don’t reject such ideologies. If she rejects Neo-Nazis she would also reject a lot of fans who aren’t full Neo-Nazi but at least sympathetic.
Neo-Nazis have the right to chose whoever they want to admire or support or like. That is a constitutional right. If they want Swifty then so it be. Swifty hasn’t done any kind of encouragement of Neo-Nazis, has she? She just kind of ignored them, didn’t she? That is her right, too, and she shouldn’t be criticised for that.
Just because you are chosen by some people that doesn’t mean you can be blamed for that.
Just because you are chosen by a fascist / rapist / robber / marketing guru … that doesn’t mean you can be blamed for it.
It’s about more than individual Neo-nazis just happening to like a singer though. Groups of them are publicly claiming that she represents their values and ideals ( just like they did with papa John’s after the owner made a thinly-veiled racist statement. There was another artist who at least had the cojones to denounce them).
Squad member BLand lively is a vocal supporter of the ACLU.