Taylor Swift calls anti-LGBT senator Marsha Blackburn ‘Trump in a wig’
Taylor Swift attends the Netflix premiere of Miss Americana at Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2020 in Park City, Utah. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Netflix)
Taylor Swift hit out at anti-LGBT+ Tennessee senator Marsha Blackburn, calling her “Trump in a wig” in her new documentary Miss Americana.
Miss Americana, which was released on Netflix on Friday January 31, is an intimate look at Swift’s life including backstage and concert footage.
Although she was born in Pennsylvania, Swift spent her formative teenage years in Tennessee after her family moved there when she was 14.
The singer has historically been reluctant to voice her political opinions, but in 2019 the singer broke away from this with a campaign for the Equality Act, a proposed law to protect LGBT+ people from discrimination in all 50 US states.
In the documentary she slammed Blackburn’s opposition to same-sex marriage and the Tennessee senator’s vote against the reauthorisation of the Violence Against Women Act.
She said: “It’s really basic human rights, and it’s right and wrong at this point, and I can’t see another commercial and see her disguising these policies behind the words ‘Tennessee Christian values’.
“Those aren’t Tennessee Christian values. I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That’s not what we stand for… I need to be on the right side of history.”
She added: “She gets to be the first female senator in Tennessee, and she’s Trump in a wig.
“She represents no female interests. She won by being a female applying to the kind of female males want us to be in a horrendous 1950s world.”
In the documentary, Swift’s publicists express concern for her wellbeing after making strong political statements, but she responded by saying: “If I get bad press for saying ‘don’t put a homophobic racist in office,’ then I get bad press for that, I really don’t care.
“I think it is so frilly and spineless of me to stand onstage and go ‘Happy Pride Month, you guys’, and then not say this, when someone’s literally coming for their neck.”
She also added in the film that feels “sad” for not being more vocal about her political opinions during the 2016 presidential election.
Miss Americana was released during the same month that Swift was honoured with an ally award by GLAAD for her work fighting for LGBT+ equality.
Her petition for passing the Equality Act – which attracted half a million signatures – was launched off the back of Swift’s pro-LGBT+ track ‘You Need to Calm Down’.
Sarah Kate Ellis of GLAAD: “From boldly standing up against anti-LGBTQ elected officials to shining attention on the urgent need to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination through the Equality Act, Taylor Swift proudly uses her unique ability to influence pop culture to promote LGBTQ acceptance.
“In a time of political and cultural division, Taylor creates music that unites and calls on her massive fan following to speak up and call for change.”
