Taylor Swift’s Fans Want Time Award Given to Palestinian Journalists
Taylor Swift won TIME magazine’s Person of the Year award this week, and while many applauded the singer, some fans appeared to be angered and mentioned others they believe should have been considered for the award, such as Palestinian journalists.
“while i do love taylor and i am happy for her, i do think there were better options. specifically, the brave palestinian journalists that have continued to risk their lives in order to show us the truth of what’s happening in gaza. but that’s just my two cents,” @butchgguk wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
On October 7, Hamas militants led a surprise attack on Israel and fighting has continued between the two since. As of Friday, there have been over 18,000 casualties across both sides, the Associated Press reported. Shortly after the war broke out, the official Israel X account posted a message to Swift asking her to use her platform to support them in the war.
X user Sally Rugg said: “I’m a mᴀssive Taylor Swift fan, and you can make the argument that pop stars shouldn’t need to speak out about war/conflict/genocide (I disagree but you can argue this). But Taylor has defined herself as someone who now speaks out on issues, even if it costs her.”
“Taylor must feel something about the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Her silence is an active choice and it betrays the image of herself that she created,” Rugg wrote in another tweet. The series of posts from Rugg received more than 60,000 views and over 100 likes.
On Wednesday, Time announced that Swift beat out other finalists including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Barbie and others. Newsweek reached out to Swift’s representatives and Time via email for comment.
“While her popularity has grown across the decades, this is the year that Swift, 33, achieved a kind of nuclear fusion: shooting art and commerce together to release an energy of historic force. She did it by embracing what she does better than anyone, entertaining and writing songs that connect with people,” Time said. “Now she becomes the first Person of the Year to be recognized for her success in the arts, in a year when we were reawakened to questions about who makes and who owns our cultural expressions.”
While many of Swift’s fans were happy about the award, such as Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who said, “As if there was any other choice,” some other fans questioned the decision and brought up other possibilities.
