Kellyanne Conway sings ‘You Need to Calm Down’ in response to Taylor Swift. Yes, really
Kellyanne Conway decided to sing a Taylor Swift song on live TV (Getty)
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway has responded to Taylor Swift’s call for LGBT+ equality by singing ‘You Need to Calm Down’.
Conway, senior counselor to the president and a frequent Trump surrogate, made the surreal singing rebuke after Swift used her platform at the MTV Video Music Awards to call for the passage of the Equality Act, a proposed LGBT+ non-discrimination law.
Appearing on Fox News on Tuesday, August 27, Conway accused Swift of being out of touch, despite polls showing overwhelming public support for the bill.
Kellyanne Conway decided to sing in response to Taylor Swift.
Conway admitted that she “really likes” Swift’s track ‘You Need to Calm Down‘, launching into song with the verse: “If you say it on the street, that’s a knockout / If you put it in a tweet, that’s a cop-out.”
She added: “I would love to ask her audience if they even know what… the Equality Act is and isn’t. She’s welcome to her opinion. I can tell you there’s a lot of poison pills in it.”
Reaffirming the White House’s opposition to the proposed law, Conway said: “The president and the White House support equality. We don’t support pieces of legislation that have poison pills in it that can harm other people.
“Look at this economy, it’s equally open to everyone. People have job mobility, the deregulation, what he’s trying to do, peace and prosperity around the world, that’s to benefit everyone.
“When something is named something, it’s not always truly that. We have to look at the legislation.”
Equality Act would extend Civil Rights Act to LGBT+ people.
The Equality Act seeks to extend existing 1968 Civil Rights Act protections for race and sex to also protect people on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The bill passed through the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives in May by a vote of 236-173, but the Senate’s Republican leadership have refused to put the bill to a vote.
Kellyanne Conway dismissed calls to pass the Equality Act
In the interview, Conway also referenced Swift’s endorsement of pro-LGBT+ Democratic candidates.
She said: “I think when Hollywood and singers and all go political, it sounds in the moment like it’s very popular, and you’ve seen so many times where it backfires and it blows up.
“She’s also somebody who went up against president Trump head to head in the United States Senate race [by endorsing a Democrat] in Tennessee and lost handily.”
