Taylor Swift may have a global army of devoted fans — a.k.a Swifties — backing her, but not all celebrities are in the tank for the pop megastar.
After Swift released her “Bad Blood” music video from her 1989 album, Miley Cyrus publicly dissed the violent imagery. “I don’t get the violence revenge thing,” Cyrus told Marie Claire in August 2015. “That’s supposed to be a good example? And I’m a bad role model because I’m running around with my titties out? I’m not sure how titties are worse than guns.”
While Swift’s fame became more colossal than ever in the wake of her Eras Tour, celebrities still spoke out to shade her. Courtney Love made headlines in April 2024 for saying that Swift “is not important.” During an interview with the Evening Standard, Love said, “She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.”
Keep scrolling down for more celebrities who aren’t Swift’s biggest fans:
Courtney Love
“Taylor is not important,” Love told the Evening Standard in April 2024. “She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.”
Demi Lovato
Lovato has publicly dissed Swift several times in the past. During an October 2016 interview with Glamour, Lovato critiqued Swift’s decision to have a “song and video about tearing Katy Perry down.” Lovato added, “That’s not women’s empowerment.” (While Swift reportedly wrote the song “Bad Blood” about Perry, and they’ve since publicly reconciled, she’s subsequently said that the track “doesn’t point to any one person.”)
Jared Leto
When Leto and his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, hit a creative roadblock with their songwriting, they looked to Swift for inspiration. In a clip obtained by TMZ in December 2015, Leto began by complementing Swift’s verse in “Blank Space” — but then threw shade at the pop star.
“I mean f–k her, I don’t give a f–k about her,” Leto said in the video. “It’s what works best for us.”
Leto later set the record straight about his feelings regarding Swift and her musical abilities. “The truth is I think Taylor Swift is amazing + an incredible example of what’s possible,” Leto wrote via X at the time. “If I hurt her or her fans my sincerest apologies.”
Miley Cyrus
Cyrus dissed Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video and the message it presented. “I don’t get the violence revenge thing,” Cyrus told Marie Claire in August 2015. “That’s supposed to be a good example? And I’m a bad role model because I’m running around with my titties out? I’m not sure how titties are worse than guns.”
Michael J. Fox
After Tina Fey warned Swift at the 2013 Golden Globes to “stay away” from Fox’s son, Sam, he later responded to the remark.
“No. No … Just back off,” he told Vulture in January 2013 about Swift and his son’s hypothetical connection. “I don’t keep up with it all. But Taylor Swift writes songs about everybody she goes out with, right? What a way to build a career.”
Swift later posted via social media that she had spoken to Fox following his comment. “Hey everybody, Michael J. Fox got in touch with me today and we are good,” she wrote via X at the time. “Thank you for having my back.”
John Mayer
While Mayer primarily took issue with his ex Swift allegedly penning her song “Dear John” about him, he also came for her songwriting in general.
“I will say as a songwriter that I think it’s kind of cheap songwriting,” he told Rolling Stone in June 2012. “I know she’s the biggest thing in the world, and I’m not trying to sink anybody’s ship, but I think it’s abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, ‘Wait till he gets a load of this!’ That’s bullsh-t.”
Damon Albarn
During an interview with the Los Angeles Times in January 2022, Blur’s Albarn said Swift “doesn’t write her own songs.” When the interviewer pointed out that she does — and has even co-written tracks, Albarn responded, “That doesn’t count.”
“I know what co-writing is. Co-writing is very different to writing. I’m not hating on anybody, I’m just saying there’s a big difference between a songwriter and a songwriter who co-writes,” he noted. “Doesn’t mean that the outcome can’t be really great. And some of the greatest singers — I mean, Ella Fitzgerald never wrote a song in her life.”
While adding that he thinks Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas, are “really interesting” songwriters, he said, “I’m more attracted to that than to Taylor Swift.”
