When Taylor Swift Trolls Attacked Me on Twitter

My radio pals Toucher & Hardy invited me on their show to talk about when Taylor Swift trolls came at me online.

Toucher & Hardy are the morning team on ROCK 92.9 sister station 98.5 the Sports Hub. Years ago, we all worked together at the late, great Rock of Boston, WBCN. We've remained friends over the years and always enjoy a bit of chatting and chop-busting in the hallways. Hell, you can hear me and Hardy kicking off 2 hours commercial-free weekdays at 3:45 p.m., as he's the ROCK 92.9 4-7 p.m. host.

Naturally, Toucher & Hardy were talking a ton about the Super Bowl in the days after the big game. And naturally, Taylor Swift came up in the conversation, as she and Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chief Travis Kelce have been an item for quite some time now. Fred and Hardy knew that I made a mistake a few years ago criticizing Taylor on Twitter, so they wanted me to tell my story.

Back in November of 2021, Taylor Swift was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Fred and I are big SNL fans; I'd even consider him a bit of an SNL historian. We still watch the show now, and I was watching the show live that night when Taylor Swift launched into her first musical number of the evening, a 10-minute long, self-indulgent slog of a song. Fan service, to be sure. But this is SNL, and SNL isn't the place for that.

I made some posts on Twitter about it. While I slept, the Swifties came at me with a, well, a swiftness. By the next morning, all hell had broken loose. You can hear me, Fred, and Hardy talk about it at the 11:41 mark of the podcast posted here. Then, keep scrolling to see some of the jabs the Swifties took at me on Twitter.

I made a few snarky tweets during Taylor Swift's performance on Saturday Night Live in 2021. Taylor Swift fans let me have it.

By the time I woke up Sunday morning, my tweets had been shared a thousand times over, and Swifties had absolutely destroyed my mentions. There were death threats, slurs, and an attempt to hack my Twitter account. No the most pleasant way to spend a quiet Sunday at home! But I have to admit, aside from the really bad stuff, there were also some damn good burns and earnest, astute arguments put forth. I wasn't a fan of the vitriol, but I have to respect the passion and knowledge of Taylor Swift fans.

In the end, I deleted the tweets and locked my account for awhile to avoid another hacking attempt, But first, I took screenshots for posterity. I've shared them below, along with a handful of the more entertaining replies. Because if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at, right? That being said, I don't recommend drawing the ire of Swifties on Twitter. They're a passionate bunch and, aside from maybe K-pop stans, are pretty much the one fan base you don't want to rile up.

Was my critique out of line? Does a middle-aged rock DJ have any business criticizing a pop star? Is a pop star untouchable once they reach a certain level of fame? I don't know. All I know is that I have a newfound appreciation for Taylor Swift and her fans. And if they can take their passion, organize, and apply it to, say, climate justice or racial inequality or the insane price of concert tickets (as I know many of them already have), then they could really make some noise.