When Taylor Swift broke her silence on politics, it upset many of her fans. The pop icon urged Americans to support Democrats and their policies and continues to do so. Kid Rock decided he needed to address it, and his choice of words made some people call him a sexist.
Taylor Swift, who rose to prominence in Nashville’s country music scene before transitioning to pop music, avoided politics in the early years of her career. According to the Daily Beast, when the celebrated singer failed to endorse a candidate during the 2016 presidential election, she drew a ton of criticism from liberals for not supporting Hillary Clinton.
In 2018, Swift broke her silence and took the plunge into political activism by endorsing Democrat Phil Bredesen in his U.S. Senate bid against GOP Senator Marsha Blackburn. Swift’s endorsement was ultimately unsuccessful, and Blackburn trounced Bredesen by double digits. But that only seems to have encouraged Swift to engage even more in politics. In her Netflix documentary released in early 2020, Swift bashed Blackburn as “Trump in a wig,” Breitbart reported.
“Unfortunately in the 2016 election you had a political opponent who was weaponizing the idea of the celebrity endorsement,” said Swift, referencing Donald Trump’s 2016 candidacy. “He was going around saying, ‘I’m a man of the people. I’m for you. I care about you.’ I just knew I wasn’t going to help.”
Swift touched on the backlash she received for staying out of politics. “The summer before that election, all people were saying was, ‘She’s calculated. She’s manipulative. She’s not what she seems. She’s a snake. She’s a liar.’ These are the same exact insults people were hurling at Hillary,” she said. “Would I be an endorsement or would I be a liability? ‘Look, snakes of a feather flock together. Look, the two lying women. The two nasty women.’ Literally, millions of people were telling me to disappear. So I disappeared.”
In 2020, Swift took to social media to promote mail-in voting. According to People Magazine, Swift joined other celebrities and politicians in calling out Trump’s dislike of mail-in voting. “Trump’s calculated dismantling of USPS proves one thing clearly: He is WELL AWARE that we do not want him as our president,” the singer wrote. “He’s chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power.”
However, a deep dive into Taylor Swift’s social media accounts found that the ME! singer, whose father had supported conservative causes like Blue Lives Matter, had reportedly written on her MySpace page in 2008: “Republicans do it better.” This brings us to Kid Rock, who started a controversy on social media when he slammed the singer-songwriter’s newfound support for Democrats by accusing Swift of being self-serving.
“Taylor Swift wants to be a Democrat because she wants to be in movies…period,” the rocker wrote. “And it looks like she will suck the door knob off Hollyweird to get there. Oldest move in the book. Good luck girl.” Kid Rock was blasted in the media as being “sexist” and “crude” in his remark. Former model Chrissy Teigen said, “you’re pathetic,” and musician Cheryl Crow said, “Spread love. Not hate. End of subject.”
Taylor Swift’s support of Democrats seemingly paid off with a big Netflix documentary and A-list celebrities giving her kudos on social media. Katy Perry, Blake Lively, Chrissy Teigen, Karlie Kloss, Emily Ratajkowski, Anna Faris, Kevin McHale, and many others showed support by “liking” her political posts. When Swift broke her silence on politics, it apparently did not hurt her career at all and helped put the rumors to bed that she may be a Republican.
However, right-leaning celebrities like James Woods claim to have had a much different experience. Woods made allegations that public support of conservatives led to being “blacklisted.” The Oscar-nominated actor isn’t alone. Melissa Joan Hart, Stacy Dash, Kristy Swanson, and Jon Voight have publicly supported Republicans, and actor Kelsey Grammar said being a conservative celebrity is “like having a target on your back.”
