Taylor Swift Criticized by ACLU After Sending Cease and Desist Letter to Blogger

Taylor Swift Criticized by ACLU After Sending Cease and Desist Letter to Blogger

On September 5, the blog PopFront posted an article titled “Swiftly to the alt-right: Taylor subtly gets the lower case kkk in formation.” In it, Meghan Herning writes about Taylor Swift, her single “Look What You Made Me Do,” and the accompanying music video—alongside the history and current state of nazism. Herning writes: “Taylor’s lyrics in ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ seem to play to the same subtle, quiet white support of a racial hierarchy. Many on the alt-right see the song as part of a ‘re-awakening,’ in line with Trump’s rise. At one point in the accompanying music video, Taylor lords over an army of models from a podium, akin to what Hitler had in Nazis Germany [sic]. The similarities are uncanny and unsettling.”

The article also includes a screenshot from the video placed next to a photo of Adolf Hitler. The post, which discusses Swift’s apparent lack of public political advocacy, concludes, “So Taylor’s [political] silence is not innocent, it is calculated. And if that is not true, she needs to state her beliefs out loud for the world—no matter what fan base she might lose, because in America 2017, silence in the face of injustice means support for the oppressor.”

On October 25, William J. Briggs, II, a lawyer representing Swift, sent a cease and desist letter to Herning, as the American Civil Liberties Union now reveals. The letter reads: “The [PopFront] story is replete with demonstrable and offensive falsehoods which bear no relation to reality or the truth about Ms. Swift. It appears to be a malicious attack against Ms. Swift that goes to great lengths to portray Ms. Swift as some sort of white supremacist figurehead, which is a baseless fiction masquerading as fact and completely misrepresents Ms. Swift.”

Some time after receiving the letter, Herning contacted the ACLU. Lawyers from the ACLU have now sent a letter to Briggs, defending Herning and PopFront’s “constitutionally protected speech.” They write: “The blog post is a mix of core political speech and critical commentary; it discusses current politics in this country, the recent rise of white supremacy, and the fact that some white supremacists have apparently embraced Ms. Swift, along with a critical interpretation of some of Ms. Swift’s music, lyrics, and videos.”

Herning, today, has posted an article on PopFront called “Taylor Swift tries to silence Popfront with cease and desist letter.” In the post, Herning criticizes Swift’s decision to involve a lawyer: “This tactic can set a dangerous precedent because it would mean any public figure could chill any criticism levied at them. At a time when the press is under constant attack from the highest branches of government, this cease and desist letter is far more insidious than Swift and her lawyer may understand. The press should not be bullied by legal action nor frightened into submission from covering any subject it chooses.”

Pitchfork has contacted Taylor Swift’s representatives and Briggs for further comment.