The most coveted endorsement in the 2024 election is still on the table because, no, Taylor Swift is definitely not “soft launching” her support of Kamala Harris via a photo from her recent Eras Tour show in Poland.
The easily-debunked rumor started spreading on social media Wednesday, Aug. 7, after Swift shared a requisite carousel of pics from her recent gigs in Warsaw. One photo in particular (number seven in the carousel) jumped out to Swifties, coconut heads, and right-wing zealots alike: A shot of Swift waving to a crowd, while the silhouette of a person that maybe, kinda, sorta, if you really squinted, looked like Harris from behind, walked off stage.
First of all, it’s obviously not a silhouette of Harris. It’s one of her dancers, walking off stage, still wearing the suit costumes used during the performances of “The Man” and “You Need to Calm Down.” (You can see it all in this video.) And besides, if you think about it for half a second, it would be truly insane to soft launch an endorsement by photoshopping a presidential candidate’s silhouette into one of your official concert photos. (A rep for Swift did not immediately return a request for comment.)
Nevertheless, the extremely online ran with the photo and persisted in speculating, wish casting, or doom-posting, depending on political affiliation. One tweet with over 14,000 likes proclaimed that “it should be a bigger deal that Taylor Swift left a shadow of Kamala on her Instagram post but I don’t see anyone talking about it.” (To which we say, no, she did not, and yes they unfortunately are).
The damn thing even made it to Fox News, where a pundit used it as an opportunity to spout off some run-of-the-mill “leave politics out of entertainment” nonsense and then complain about why a backup dancer would be wearing a suit.
So, again, for the record, Taylor Swift has not endorsed anyone in the 2024 election. She did endorse Joe Biden and Harris during the 2020 election, and has spoken out against former president Donald Trump (not that that’s stopped Trump from insisting he’ll secure her vote this time). And it’s also probably worth noting that Republicans have spent a lot of time wringing their hands over a potential Swift endorsement of the Democratic ticket, even promising to wage a “holy war” if she did.