Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP
Taylor Swift broke her usual political silence on Sunday to endorse two democrats and speak on the importance of equal rights.
- 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.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
Swift denounced Marsha Blackburn, who spoke at a campaign rally for President Donald Trump in Tennessee on October 1.
In her Sunday post, Swift acknowledged that she is usually quiet when it comes to
"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:
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.