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John Mulaney’s Ex-Wife Anna Marie Tendler Backtracks After Claiming Taylor Swift Copied Her Art: Joke ‘Wasn’t Landing’

John Mulaney's Ex-Wife Anna Marie Tendler Backtracks After Claiming Taylor Swift Copied Her Art
John Mulaney, Anna Marie Tendler and Taylor Swift Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock

This is why she can’t have nice things. Anna Marie Tendler is walking back a joke she made about Taylor Swift‘s Eras stage design after sparking confusion online.

Related: Taylor Swift’s Feuds: Where Are They Now?

The 37-year-old artist uploaded a TikTok video of her reaction to the 33-year-old Grammy winner’s new tour, which kicked off in Arizona on Friday, March 17. In the since-deleted video, Tendler shared her thoughts about the props Swift used while performing the Evermore ballad “Tolerate It.”

“Uh, Taylor. My girl,” the Connecticut native began. “This ‘Tolerate It’ setup looks strikingly like one of my photographs in tone and in aesthetics. It doesn’t totally feel like parallel thinking to me.”

Tendler used the app’s green screen feature to show the artwork in question, which shows her sitting at an empty dining table in a long flowing dress. The image is titled “Dinner in March” and was taken amid her divorce from ex-husband John Mulaney. (Us Weekly confirmed in May 2021 that the twosome called it quits after six years of marriage. Their divorce was finalized in January 2022.)

The makeup artist’s Eras TikTok raised eyebrows among diehard Swift fans, some of whom questioned the video’s intent. “This is so funny to me bc if it’s not satire then she’s straight up accusing taylor swift of stealing her idea of *checks notes* setting a table,” one Twitter user wrote after reposting the clip.

Related: She's Bejeweled! See All of Taylor Swift's Chicest 'Eras' Concert Outfits

Others defended Tendler from the negative comments. “SHES JOKING SHES JOKING SWIFTIES STAND DOWN,” another fan tweeted in response to the backlash, while a third pointed out that they’re “99.9 [percent] sure she’s a Swiftie.”

Tendler chimed in on the debate to clarify after taking down her post. “Hi! This was meant to be a joke,” she commented. “Most of my videos are jokes or satire! When I realized it wasn’t landing as a joke I deleted it. Didn’t mean offense.”

Fans of the “Clean” songstress have flocked to social media to see glimpses of her highly anticipated stadium tour, which features a massive 44-song set list. Swift took the stage in Glendale, Arizona, on Friday in a variety of designer costumes to coincide with each of her albums. While singing “Tolerate It,” she donned a floor-length yellow dress and stood on a table while a male dancer sat at the other end.

Related: Taylor Swift's Biggest Controversies Through the Years

The Cats actress returned to State Farm Stadium for night two on Saturday, March 18, with nearly the same songs and minor tweaks to her outfits. Each night of the nationwide tour, Swift is adding surprise hits to the set list — and she hopes not to repeat her choices. So far, lucky fans have heard “Mirrorball,” “Tim McGraw,” “This Is Me Trying” and “State of Grace.”

Eras marks the songwriter’s first tour in five years. “Is it just me or do we have a lot of things to catch up on?” she teased the audience from the stage, later adding, “To say that a lot of has happened is really an understatement. I can’t even go into how much I missed you because there’s no way to verbalize it.”

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