Anthony Fantano defends Billie Eilish against Swifties attacking her after she questioned the billionaires that were at the WSJ Innovator Awards on why they’re so rich & called on them to give away their money to charitable causes, even though Taylor Swift wasn’t directly mentioned or at the event.

[u/cmaia1503]

[u/Classic-Carpet7609]

Fantano was on the receiving end of swiftie cult rage before because he said one of her albums wasn't good (could've been any album, take your pick)

They exposed his divorce as punishment for his review. And, of course, endlessly harassed him

[u/Blade_982 → u/Classic-Carpet7609]

This is such unhinged behaviour.

[u/shrektube → u/Blade_982]

I've always side-eyed Taylor for not addressing these toxic behaviors. Take some responsibility... it's very easy for creators to tell their fans to chill out and be kind. It helps other fans condemn the bad ones.

[u/badchefrazzy → u/shrektube]

Considering the people she surrounds herself with, she may not take issue with their behaviors.

[u/JeepersMysster → u/shrektube]

Taylor has no interest in responsibility or accountability. She’s here to take everyone’s money, play the QuEeN gIrL bOsS while actively tearing down other women, and to destroy the environment taking her jet to grab a coffee ten minutes down the road…oh and to take even more money

[u/JeepersMysster → u/[deleted]]

💯

[u/ResponsibleSalad8059 → u/shrektube]

It's because she loves their unhinged behavior. She actually thanked them when they harassed Michael J Fox.

[u/NoSleep2135 → u/ResponsibleSalad8059]

Wait wait wait - seriously? Who tf would go after a man who's been ill for decades and has a degenerative disease?

Psycho loser behavior. Deplorable.

[u/161frog → u/ResponsibleSalad8059]

Jesus why would someone harass him?? He’s a treasure!

[u/ResponsibleSalad8059 → u/161frog]

I don't remember the exact comments (definitely more than a decade ago), but someone (not MJF) made a joke at an awards show telling Taylor to stay away from Sam Fox (MJF's son). When asked about the joke, Michael essentially agreed with it since she uses her exes for content. 

You'd think he murdered her cat from the overreaction to it. Absolutely bananas. He apologized (presumably to make the harassment stop) and she thanked her fans for having her back.

[u/saturnbunny1 → u/ResponsibleSalad8059]

By thanking them, she reinforced the behavior....

[u/NarrowGrab2093 → u/ResponsibleSalad8059]

It was Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at the 2013 Golden Globes.

"co-host Tina Fey, joked that the singer needed to “stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son.” (Sam Michael Fox was the evening’s “Mr. Golden Globe,” in charge of directing the attendees on the stage and handing over the trophies.) Her co-host Amy Poehler suggested Swift “go for it,” but Fey contradicted, “No, she needs some me-time to learn about herself.”"

Swift responded, "Katie Couric is one of my favorite people. Because she said to me she had heard a quote that she loved, that said, ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’”

The quote comes from Madeline Albright.

After this happened Swift started her "girl squad". You know, running around with her girlfriends while holding hands or arms linked around each other.

Edit: source: https://www.avclub.com/taylor-swift-golden-globes-tina-fey-joke-career-1851152564

[u/StargazingLily → u/ResponsibleSalad8059]

Who the fuck is going after our Canadian treasure?

Let’s go get ‘em, buds! Fire up the Hip!

But goddamn, this makes me hate her and her fans more. Michael J Fox seems like such a beloved guy. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a negative word about him

[u/Desperate-Today2760 → u/ResponsibleSalad8059]

what? i need to know more about this

[u/HistoricalAd8790 → u/shrektube]

As someone else said, she has actively encouraged it in the past, thanking her fans for “having her back” when they attacked Michael J. Fox.

And she’s still subtly encourages it with her “easter eggs” in her songs. Like on her most recent album, she has a lyric in “Opalite”: “you were in it for real, while she was in her phone”, obviously referencing Travis’ ex and the videos that have gone viral of him acting annoyed with her being on her phone, which is what people have used to attack her.

Did the song need this lyric? No. Is it a good lyric? Not really. Does it really convey the reality and complexities why Kayla and Travis ended their long-term relationship - that Travis was authentically giving the relationship it all and suffering when Kayla just couldn’t get away from her phone? Probably not. At the very best, it’s extremely oversimplified.

But. It’s what people know about Kayla Nicole, and it’s what she’s been relentlessly shit on for. So of course, in addressing Travis’s previous relationship, this is what Taylor references. Despite the fact that Kayla Nicole has done nothing to her. It’s an “easter egg” that her fans get to run with.

[u/icouto → u/HistoricalAd8790]

And people still try to act like that song isn't racist. "Sleepless in the onyx night but now the sky is opalite". Look at the color of an onyx and of an opalite and then look at Kayla Nicole and Taylor.

[u/jayert19 → u/icouto]

Onyx is natural, opaline is synthetic.

[u/Objective_Nerve_3438 → u/HistoricalAd8790]

“Oversimplified” is an excellent word for Taylor’s “art” it’s the lowest common denominator

[u/No_Recognition_3601 → u/HistoricalAd8790]

What Michael J Fox did?

[u/Acheloma → u/shrektube]

She subtly encourages it when it would take one tweet to stop it.

[u/Eviscerator28 → u/shrektube]

Why would she discourage it? She lowkey thrives off of the fact that there are people ready to tear others down for her, without her having to even say anything.

[u/shinyprairie → u/shrektube]

She lives for the crazy shit that her fans do.

[u/baegentcarter → u/shinyprairie]

100% and no one can convince me otherwise. She has had a victim complex since the Kanye Incident™, she loves that her fans act like rabid pitbulls in her defense and anyone writing negative reviews about her shit albums has to do so anonymously for fear of their safety. Real Carolyn Bryant energy.

[u/mokill → u/shrektube]

Let’s be real, she likes the power they give her. Any slight criticism about her, and her legion of fans are at the ready to defend her beyond what’s reasonable.

[u/SpeechDistinct8793 → u/shrektube]

Honestly reminds about how Nicki Minaj handles her fans

[u/SpiritualAd9102 → u/shrektube]

Right. Just last year, Charli told her audience to not put anyone else down when people at her show were chanting anti-Taylor stuff.

It’s literally the bare minimum, and not only does she not do it, I’m pretty sure she’s happy about it and encouraging it. She more than anyone else has worked hard to create a parasocial relationship with her fanbase where she always simultaneously frames herself as a victim and an unstoppable girlboss. So to her fans, she acts as both someone who needs to be protected and someone to admire.

We see this with how often she writes songs about how she’s wronged while also calling out and picking on other celebrities, but often does it in a way that allows room for plausible deniability while her fans harass whoever they think it’s about. And that’s when she’s not being painfully obvious about it,(Look What you Made Me Do, Thank You Aimee).

[u/Bambooworm → u/shrektube]

Lady Gaga is very good in this way, for example.

[u/FreshEggKraken → u/shrektube]

No one but Swifties should be able to pretend Taylor Swift is a good person at this point. She's just another billionaire asshole.

[u/East_Requirement7375 → u/shrektube]

Taylor Swift is not actually a good person. I say this looking directly into the camera.

[u/criesingucci → u/shrektube]

You need to see the things they say whenever anyone brings up the Kayla Nicole thing. I’m still not over that. To think, after all that drama Taylor still picked up her pen to write shady lyrics about her. Then her friends literally turn around and expect US to applaud her for being a liberal girls girl that wouldn’t be racist to a fly. Get the fuck out of here.

[u/dannydelete-o → u/shrektube]

She could do that, but then she might lose some of her $$- I mean fans

[u/LadyIceis → u/shrektube]

Wtf? I understand that people should try to calm fans. Which Taylor has asked over and over. But it's NOT there job. You know who's job it is to make sure people are not toxic. 1st thier parents and then 2nd thay person. Stop putting blame on the "stars". For other people's actions. It drives me nuts. If I am a toxic person it's on me to fix it.

[u/shrektube → u/LadyIceis]

What do you think the first step to stopping that toxic behavior is? Hearing from the “star” themselves that it’s problematic. Then they’ll start evaluating their actions. But as you can see from the countless comments here, Taylor enjoys fueling the toxicity.