Taylor Swift has recently been hailed as an “Aryan goddess” by far-right groups who have adopted her as their neo-Nazi icon.
Neo-Nazi groups latched on to memes, first published on Pinterest, coupling Swift’s photos with quotes from Adolf Hitler, prompting rumors that the “Shake It Off” singer is a closet fascist.
“Firstly, Taylor Swift is a pure Aryan goddess, like something out of classical Greek poetry. Athena reborn. That’s the most important thing,” Andrew Anglin, writer of the white supremacist blog the Daily Stormer told Broadly. It is also an established fact that Taylor Swift is secretly a Nazi and is simply waiting for the time when Donald Trump makes it safe for her to come out and announce her Aryan agenda to the world. Probably, she will be betrothed to Trump’s son, and they will be crowned American royalty.”
But is it an “established fact” that T-Swift is a secret Nazi?
No. Not even close.
When the memes began rising in popularity in 2013, Swift’s lawyer penned a letter to Pinterest, calling the association between Swift and Hitler “harmful, “abusive,” “ethnically offensive,” “humiliating to other people,” “libelous,” and “otherwise objectionable.” The letter went on to say that there are certain historical figures, such as Hitler or Charles Manson, who are “lightning rods for emotional and negative reaction.” Pinterest refused to take the memes down, but teenager Emily Pattinson, the original creator, stopped making new ones.
However, it was too late. The trend was set and new memes continued to emerge.
Swift has become an unwilling icon to many neo-Nazi groups. “We are certain that as soon as Nazis saw her, they were magnetically drawn to her sculpted Aryan form and angelic demeanor,” Anglin said.
Pinterest isn’t the only site promoting the propaganda however. A Facebook group called “Taylor Swift for Fascist Europe” was created, accumulating over 19,000 friends, though the account appeared to be deactivated Wednesday evening.
