Carole King has attended a virtual Swifties for Kamala kickoff event, where she spoke about Taylor Swift and even sang a little bit of ‘Shake It Off’ – find out more below.
The Swifties for Kamala campaign – which Taylor herself is not affiliated with – is an independent event founded by Taylor Swift fans (also known as Swifties), in an attempt to mobilise other likeminded fans to vote for Kamala Harris in the upcoming US Presidential Elections.
The first Swifties for Kamala event officially kicked off yesterday (August 27) with an online rally that included guest speakers like legendary singer-songwriter Carole King and US senator Elizabeth Warren.
King said to those on the online call: “I am a Swiftie, and Taylor and I are actually friends. We have had conversations backstage and I see her as sort of my musical and songwriting granddaughter. We have a lovely relationship, and I’m so proud of her.”
She then noted that her favourite song is ‘Shake It Off’ from ‘1989’ before getting down to business, voicing her support for Kamala Harris: “I’m excited about Kamala, because so many people are excited about Kamala, and I have met her. I admire her and the stars lined up, and Joe Biden did a really gracious, hard thing to do, and I’m so proud of him. But this is about you. I know you have your ways of communicating and social networking and organising.”
King would go on to encourage Swifties to get involved in-person, and to volunteer in door-knocking and phone calling to rally more voters: “I’ve been a political activist for years. I’ve been a caller, I’ve been a door knocker, even as a famous person. I’m telling you all this because if any of you are thinking of volunteering to be door knockers or phone callers, but you’re a little nervous about what you might say, please believe me, you will be working with an organizer who will give you steps. Don’t be afraid, because there is nothing to lose and everything to gain. There is too much at stake.”
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Before hopping off the call, Carole King – who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame by Taylor Swift in 2021 – treated attendees to a quick, impromptu performance, singing the chorus of Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’. Watch a clip of the mini-performance below.
Kinda never getting over the iconic Carole King singing Shake It Off on the Swifties for Kamala kickoff call 😂 pic.twitter.com/QUi8x4wpq7
— jasmine (@goodgirlfaithhh) August 28, 2024
According to a Variety report, the Swifties for Kamala campaign has so far raised of US$100,000m which is being donated to support Harris’ campaign.
It is important to note that Taylor Swift has yet to publicly endorse anyone for the 2024 elections.
“We are not waiting on Taylor to show her support for Kamala Harris,” Swifties for Kamala social media manager Rohan Reagan told Cosmopolitan in an interview earlier this month. “We are doing this outside of her, using the platform of Swifties as a way to get people involved in the election. Taylor did throw her support toward Joe Biden during the 2020 election, so it is possible that she’ll show her support again. But Swifties for Kamala aren’t waiting for her to do that.”
Earlier this month, former President Donald Trump shared fake AI-generated images on his Truth Social Account that suggested the singer had endorsed his 2024 presidential campaign. They included screenshots of women wearing shirts with the slogan ‘Swifties For Trump’, and an image of Swift made up like Uncle Sam, with the banner: “Taylor wants you to vote for Trump”.
Last week, Trump claimed that he did not generate the images, and “didn’t know anything” about them: “Somebody came out. They said, ‘Oh, look at this’. These were all made up by other people. AI is always very dangerous in that way. It’s happening with me, too. They’re making — having me speak. I speak perfectly, I mean absolutely perfectly on AI, and I’m, like, endorsing other products and things. It’s a little bit dangerous out there.”
In February this year, Trump allies pledged a “holy war” against Swift after it was suggested that she would throw her support behind Joe Biden before Kamala Harris replaced him as the Democratic presidential candidate.
Swift broke years of political silence in 2018 to back the two Democrat candidates in the midterm elections and asked her fans to register and vote. It came after she faced criticism for not speaking out against Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 US election.
In May 2020, Swift slammed Trump for a tweet that was flagged by Twitter for “inciting violence” after commenting on the murder of George Floyd. Swift wrote in response: “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November.
A year earlier, she accused Trump of “gaslighting the American public” and stated that the US President doesn’t believe in democracy. She said Trump was “gaslighting the American public into being, like: ‘If you hate the President, you hate America.’” She continued: “We’re a democracy – or at least we’re supposed to be – where you’re allowed to disagree, dissent, debate. I really think he thinks this is an autocracy.”
Her comments came after she unwittingly became championed by the right-wing in the US after refusing to back any candidate. After confirming she would have backed defeated Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton, Swift explained she was too upset by her mother’s cancer to want to be in the public eye.
“I was just trying to protect my mental health – not read the news very much, go cast my vote, tell people to vote,” Swift said. “I just knew what I could handle and I knew what I couldn’t. I was literally about to break. I will do everything I can for 2020.”