Taylor Swift is easily the most recognizable singer in recent years, and with the kickoff of her Eras Tour, she is in the spotlight now more than ever.
Despite this massive success and praise, Swift found herself in controversy when the reveal of her new boyfriend, Matty Healy, came to light, highlighting Swift’s problem of staying silent on important issues and turning a blind eye to problematic behavior.
Swift started her massive stadium tour this year in March. Since then, all eyes have been on the singer. During her first show in Nashville, Matty Healy, lead singer of the popular band The 1975, was spotted with Swift’s friends and family watching the show. The Sun reported on May 3 that Swift and Healy were in a relationship. The report detailed how a source close to Swift described the two as “madly in love.” However, according to a recent exclusive from People, the two have seemingly split up, putting an end to the short-lived romance.
The 1975’s leading man has been met with a handful of controversies, most happening just this year. In January, Healy was recorded doing a Nazi salute during a concert. In February, Healy appeared on an episode of “The Adam Friedland Show,” which was later pulled from Spotify and Apple Music for offensive content. During the podcast, Healy and the hosts mocked Black rapper Ice Spice, making racist remarks and mocking accents.
During that same podcast episode, Healy admitted to being caught watching a porn website called Ghetto Gaggers. This site features Black women being brutalized and assaulted by white men. Medium described the site as “white men humiliating and sexually dominating Black women – physical violence coupled with jokes about poverty, welfare, slavery, putting nooses on women, etc.”
Other than a brief “apology” to Ice Spice during one of his shows, Healy has stayed silent on the matter. That is until an article was published by The New Yorker in which Healy says the podcast controversy “doesn’t actually matter.” He doubles down by saying if people are upset about it they are “deluded” or a “liar.”
When Swift was seen with Healy, many fans, including myself, were upset.
With the context of all of his controversies, it’s hard to understand why Swift would want to associate with someone like that. After all, Swift claims to be an activist. At least she did during her “Lover” album era. In her 2020 documentary “Miss Americana,” she spoke extensively about wanting to speak out about LGBTQ+ rights and be on the right side of history. Also in 2020, she accepted an Icon Award where she said she “promised to always advocate” for LGBTQ rights. Yet again in 2020, she said that she and her family were “loudly and ferociously anti-racist” in a tweet for Juneteenth.
Swift claims to be an advocate and an ally which is why many fans find her dating Healy to be dishonest and disappointing. Swift made a huge profit off of her activism during her “Lover” era only to turn around and be completely silent while hundreds of bills and legislation are affecting the LGBTQ+ community. In combination with her silence, being seen with Healy, who has said heinous and vile things about the very communities she claims to be an ally for, is extremely disappointing. Swift herself has even said she wants to “be defined by the things” she loves.
It’s important to recognize that no one is holding Swift accountable for the actions of Healy but is criticizing her for associating with someone who holds views she claims to be against. The people you surround yourself with are a pretty clear indicator of your values and morals.
The parasocial relationship that Swift has curated with her fans creates a huge defense complex regarding Swift and controversies. A lot of fans claim that we shouldn’t criticize Swift or Healy; after all, we don’t know them personally. However, it is completely reasonable and justified to criticize someone who is directly harming their fans. Swift associating so closely with someone who has said vile things about minority groups shows her fans that she doesn’t mind dating someone who is seemingly bigoted.
Swift recently released a collaboration with rapper Ice Spice in a remix of her song “Karma,” the same woman that Healy was insulting on the podcast just months earlier. Either Swift saw the backlash against Healy and collaborated with Ice Spice to take some of the heat off to show they are all fine, or this was before the podcast and Swift still chose to date someone who made disgusting comments about someone she is closely collaborating with. Both scenarios don’t look good for Swift.
With her platform being so big she is able to make an immense amount of change. We saw this in 2018 when voter registrations increased by a large margin after she pushed her followers to get out the vote. She has a voice and she has a huge impact. Yet, the promises she made in 2020 seem null and void with her silence and her association with Healy. Popular artists like Lizzo and Hayley Williams have spoken during their concerts about the injustices happening to marginalized communities.
Being vocal is essential right now.
Haylee Leasure is a sophomore studying journalism. Please note that the opinions expressed in this column do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk about the column? Email Haylee at hl125421@ohio.edu.
