It looks like people are pretty pissed with Taylor Swift. Why? Because she tweeted in support of the Womens’ March…
On Saturday evening Taylor tweeted: ‘So much love, pride, and respect for those who marched. I’m proud to be woman today, and every day.’
It’s a pretty pleasant, straight forward and supportive tweet in recognition of the millions of women across the world who walked for womens’ rights. But backlash came in thick and fast as people pointed out that Taylor’s support was too little, too late.
And I get it, she's arguably one of the most high profile celebrities in the world who has, albeit after lots of online speculation and confusion around her understanding of the term, identified as a feminist. It's become part of the Taylor Swift brand. So as someone who projects the image of being very much for women, her fans' disappointment at her lack of attendance at what became a historically signficant worldwide march for women's rights is understandable. Especially when our social media feeds are flooded with pictures of Katy Perry, Lena Dunham Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Blake Lively (the list goes on...) right in the middle of the action.
One guy responded to Taylor with: 'This is gross oppotunism. Be better'. Another replied: 'As a fan of yours, this is some bullshit. You do not get to pick and choose when feminism benefits you'. Another fan said: 'I love you, but I'm disappointed that you didn't use your platform to voice your support earlier. your voice is powerful.'
On the other hand though, some Swifty fans were equally as quick to jump to Taylor's defence and point out that any support is better than no support, and to thank her for saying something at all. At the very least, it's tricky territory. I mean, the timing of Taylor's tweet does seem a bit off. Especially having quite noticably said very little, if anything at all, on the political events of the last year and then chosing the evening of an international movement that many of her peers had taken part in to send a quick tweet and seeminly re-align herself with the cause. But at the same time though, does a 'late to the party' (albeit a bloody huge, very important party) really deserve such criticism in the context of how groundbreakingly brilliant the Womens' March was, with or without Taylor? I'm not sure it does.
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Follow Jazmin on Twitter @JazKopotsha
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.