A man who for some reason smashed up a guitar with a hammer in Texas may have thought it had been signed by Taylor Swift — but it was not, in fact, an official Swift-certified guitar.
In a video that has gone viral, the unidentified man is seen taking a small hammer to the guitar, after he allegedly bought it at a charity auction for $4,000. A post on X with the clip showing the act of vandalism has been viewed more than 22 million times since it was shared on Sunday evening. (Watch below.)
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But contrary to media reports, the guitar the man destroyed had not been signed by Swift — and was not a certified official guitar used by the singer, a source close to her merch company confirmed to Variety. The organization that held the auction, the Ellis County WildGame Dinner, presented the guitar with a signed CD insert but the guitar itself was not signed.
In the video, a white-haired man shuffles up to grab the guitar and smashes it with a hammer, to the cheers of the assembled crowd. After chuckling and saying something to the emcee that is not audible in the clip, he then raises the instrument as if he’s going to smash it on the ground before he walks back to his seat. The auction was held in Waxahachie, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 28. The nonprofit the Ellis County WildGame Dinner says the event benefits “agricultural education for local youth.”
Neither Swift nor her reps have commented on the incident. A representative for the Ellis County WildGame Dinner did not respond to a request for comment.
The motives of the man who smashed the guitar are unclear.
Swift generated the ire of MAGA nation last month after she announced that she intends to vote for VP Kamala Harris in the 2024 U.S. presidential following Harris’ decisive debate victory over Trump. Swift’s Instagram Story linked to the U.S. government’s Vote.gov, driving more than 400,000 visitors to the voter-information site in a 24-hour period.
Stoking animosity among his followers, on Sept. 15, Donald Trump, without explanation, posted, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on his Truth Social social media network. In her endorsement of Harris, Swift called out Trump for previously using a fake, AI-generated image of her to make it falsely appear as if Swift were endorsing him. Trump suggested he wasn’t concerned that Swift would sue him over his posting of the fake images, saying they “were all made up by other people.”
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