Culture

Pop superstar Taylor Swift made it abundantly clear to her followers who she will be voting for in November, and conservative pundit Megyn Kelly is refusing to “Shake It Off.”
In the newest episode of her YouTube series The Megyn Kelly Show, the former Fox News host harshly criticized Swift for supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the presidency this November. Reading out Swift’s full statement posted to her Instagram, Kelly immediately impugned the singer’s character and spread misinformation surrounding some of Harris and Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed policies.

“I’m allowed to criticize Taylor Swift, and I don’t give a sh– who gets upset. This is disgusting,” she said. “If she wants to vote Harris-Walz, she can do it all she wants but to say the reason she is doing it is because of Tim Walz’s stance on LGBTQ? F you, Taylor Swift. And F all of the people who want to see these children have body parts chopped off and watch them sterilized under the age of consent and then will ride off to their multi-gazillion-dollar mansions.”

The conservative host then included Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce in her criticism (despite the fact that Kelce has yet to publicly endorse a candidate in the election), calling the couple the “epitomes of elite snobs” before claiming that the two are not in touch with politics.

“They both have gazillions of dollars,” she said, before adding in anti-vaccine sentiment to the mix. “She doesn’t care what happens to these kids, just like he [Kelce] doesn’t give a sh– what happens to all the young men who take the Pfizer booster he’s been pushing on them.”

Billboard has reached out to Swift’s representatives for comment.

Kelly had previously criticized Kelce for posting an advertisement with Pfizer, where the tight end encouraged fans to get their COVID-19 booster shots. The host claimed that COVID-19 vaccines put youth at greater risk for myocarditis — the CDC, though, says that those who contract COVID-19 are far more likely to contract myocarditis, and that “myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination is rare.”

Kelly’s complaint about children having “body parts chopped off” is part of a larger GOP trend of advocating against gender-affirming care for transgender youth. While many pundits and politicians (including former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump) claim that this kind of care involves children routinely having their genitals operated on, experts in the field say surgical intervention is not recommended for minors.

“Genital reconstruction surgery is typically reserved for adults,” Dr. Joshua D. Safer, MD, executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, explained to Billboard in 2022. “Prior to any gender-affirming medical or surgical intervention, all minors must have an intake with a knowledgeable mental health provider internal to our system. Once deemed ready for a medical/surgical intervention, the processes we have for adults are then brought into play.”

In her endorsement of Harris, Swift praised the vice president as a “steady-handed, gifted leader” who “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” She added that she was “heartened” by Gov. Walz, thanks to his decades-long support for “LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body.

See Megyn Kelly’s rant below:

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Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks look like Harris-Walz supporters in this light, and Democrats are loving it.
Shortly after the “Anti-Hero” singer broke her silence on the 2024 presidential election with a post in support of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s campaign for the White House, the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman followed in her footsteps and endorsed the VP as well Wednesday (Sept. 11). “As my friend @taylorswift so eloquently stated, now is the time to research and choose the candidate that speaks to you and your beliefs,” Nicks wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of herself with her tiny canine.

“Only 54 days left until the election,” she continued. “Make sure you are registered to vote! Your vote in this election may be one of the most important things you ever do.”

Similar to Swift, who signed her own endorsement “Childless Cat Lady” — a dig at Democrats previously made by Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance — Nicks stamped her post with “Childless Dog Lady.”

The “Edge of Seventeen” singer’s message comes amid a whirlwind 24 hours for the Harris-Walz campaign, which saw Harris debate Trump for the first time on Tuesday (Sept. 10). Shortly afterward, Swift gave her highly anticipated seal of approval on Instagram, writing that she was supporting the former prosecutor because “she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”

“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” Swift added at the time. “I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

After going head-to-head with Trump, Harris played the 14-time Grammy winner’s “The Man” at a post-debate gathering, Walz gushed about Swift “as a fellow cat owner” in an interview and the Democratic duo began selling Eras-Tour-inspired friendship bracelets on the campaign’s website.

Swift and Nicks famously performed together on the Grammy telecast in 2010. They have seemingly grown closer over the past few years, with Swift giving the rock legend a shout-out on her The Tortured Poets Department track “Clara Bow.” Nicks, who penned a poem specially for the physical copies of Swift’s Billboard 200-topping album, has also said on more than one occasion that the younger star’s Midnights anthem “You’re on Your Own, Kid” has helped her grieve late Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie.

See Nicks’ endorsement of Harris below.