Taylor Swift called ‘traitor’ by alt-right after Democrat endorsements

Taylor
Swift broke her usual political silence on Sunday to endorse two
democrats and speak on the importance of equal
rights.
Joel C
Ryan/Invision/AP

• The alt-right is calling Taylor Swift a traitor,
  attacking her appearance, and calling for violence after she
  
  endorsed two Democratic candidates for the House of
  Representatives and the Senate.
• Swift is often silent on political issues, which
  allowed the alt-right movement to create the false theory that
  she is secretly a white supremacist.
• 4chan users who pushed the theory were angry at Swift
  for standing up for gender, racial, and LGBT equality in a
  statement she made on Instagram over the weekend. Some of them
  called for violence against her.
• Swift denounced Republican congresswoman Marsha
  Blackburn, writing: “I cannot vote for someone who will not be
  willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their
  skin color, gender or who they love.”

Members of the alt-right are calling Taylor Swift a “traitor”
after she broke her usual political silence to
endorse two Democratic candidates in her home state of
Tennessee.

Users on 4chan,
a messaging board popular with the alt-right, had long
endorsed Swift and pushing a theory that she was a white
supremacist, hailing her as “the Aryan princess” due to her
features and her usual policy of not commenting on political
issues.

But Swift on Sunday said she was spurred to speak out in
opposition of Republican congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, who
represents Tennessee’s 7th District, saying that Blackburn’s
voting record “appalls and terrifies me.”

Swift endorsed Tennessee Representative Jim Cooper for the Senate
and former Governor Phil Bredesen for the House of
Representatives while posting about the importance of LGBT
rights, gender and racial equality, and equal pay.

In response, 4chan users called her a traitor, called her ugly,
and called for her to be “executed.” Many were angry at Swift for
standing up for gender, racial, and LGBT equality.

Many of the posts used explicit language, used homophobic and
racial slurs, and called for graphic violence against Swift.
Business Insider has chosen not to publish them.

One wrote that Swift is “pro- f-g and anti-racist” — using a
derogative word for gay people — “so she must be executed.”

Another wrote: “What a traitor bitch. the trump curse will take
her now.”

A number of threads were posted on the website, with hundreds of
responses.

Swift
denounced Marsha Blackburn, who spoke at a campaign rally for
President Donald Trump in Tennessee on October
1.
Sean Rayford/Getty
Images

In her Sunday post, Swift acknowledged that she is usually quiet
when it comes to politics.

“In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political
opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world
in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now,”
she wrote.

Swift’s usual policy of political silence led to her becoming a
bizarre symbol for the white supremacist movement, despite never
publicly endorsing their values. They then theorized
that Swift is secretly a white supremacist too.

Last year Swift
threatened to sue a blogger who, when criticizing her silence
on political issues in 2017, accused her of enabling an alt-right
and white supremacist fan base around her to exist.

The theory about Swift spread to a number of more mainstream
platforms, with one parody
account on Pinterest falsely attributing quotes by Adolf
Hitler to Swift, like this one:

Swift
did not say this, obviously.

Know Your
Meme

Former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos
wrote for the conservative news site in 2016 that Swift has a
sizeable fan club in the alt-right movement as she is “very white
and very blonde” and that she “isn’t very
forthcoming about her political or religious views.”

He said that the association is a joke for some, but that
many take it seriously: “Like the alt-right itself, the far-right
internet’s love affair with this pop star is predominantly
sincere but with a heady whiff of satire and
troublemaking.”

In reality, Swift’s rare political statements have skewed
liberal. In March, she endorsed the March for Our Lives, a
national movement calling for increased gun control.