Claim that Taylor Swift announced a boycott of 'red states' stems from satire

What’s the claim?

Following the U.S. presidential elections, in which Donald Trump was re-elected, a claim has circulated widely on social media alleging that American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced she would boycott performing in Republican-dominated or 'red' states.

The claim states that Swift said, “I can’t in good conscience perform there.” A Facebook post promoting this claim has attracted over 200 likes and 114 comments. An archived version of the post is available here.

The claim also gained traction on Threads and YouTube, where users shared an image of a partial map of the United States marked in red and blue, captioned, “Taylor Swift Cancels Red State Shows After MASSIVE RED WAVE, ‘I Won’t Be Performing Here Anymore.’” An archived version of this post is also accessible here.

We also found an iteration of the claim on YouTube (archived here) using Logically® Accelerate, a tool that enables proactive discovery of fact-check-worthy content on platforms.

Screenshot of the viral claims made online. (Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

The current misinformation surrounding Swift likely stems from her history of being targeted by fabricated claims, particularly regarding her political stance. In the context of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Swift’s recent endorsement of Democratic candidates Kamala Harris and Tim Walz has likely fueled these false narratives. Logically Facts previously published an article on Swift’s frequent targeting by misinformation; read more here.

Swift has publicly opposed former President Trump in the past. During the 2020 election, she endorsed Joe Biden, who defeated Trump.

However, this claim is false. Swift has made no such public statement.

What we found

The claim originates from an article published by SpaceXMania on November 9, 2024, titled “Taylor Swift Cancels Red State Shows After MASSIVE RED WAVE, ‘I Won’t Be Performing Here Anymore.’” The article includes the same viral map of the U.S. divided into red and blue and attributes the quoted statement to Swift. Notably, the article is marked as “SATIRE” below the byline, and SpaceXMania’s About page describes it as a satirical site.

The article alleges that Swift announced on Instagram that she would no longer perform in states that voted for Trump. However, an examination of her Instagram account revealed no such post.

Screenshot of the SpaceXMania article. (Source: SpaceXMania)

The map illustrates the state-by-state results of the 2024 election, where Trump defeated Harris with 312 electoral votes to her 226, leaving large portions of the country marked in red.

On November 10, 2024, the Facebook page SpaceX Fanclub posted this claim, clearly labeling it as satire. Another page, The Patriots Network, also shared the claim with a link to the SpaceXMania article and labeled it satire, further amplifying it with over 141,000 likes. The post included an image of Swift alongside a disclaimer stating, “This is a fictional quote.”

Screenshot of The Patriots Network’s Facebook post labeled as Satire. (Source: Facebook/The Patriots Network)

Despite being clearly marked as satire, the claim circulated widely as if it were an actual statement by Swift.

The verdict

The claim that Taylor Swift announced a boycott of 'red' states after Trump’s re-election, saying, “I can’t in good conscience perform there,” is false. This quote originated from the satire site SpaceXMania. Swift has made no such public announcement.