Taylor Speaks About Cancelled Austrian Shows

[Taylucifer 5,061]

After wrapping up the final shows on the European leg of Eras, Taylor has issued a statement regarding the cancelled shows in Austria due to terrorist threats via Instagram:

"Walking onstage in London was a rollercoaster of emotions. Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us. Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows. In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that."

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Full Post via Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-8sKGYymIC/?img_index=1

We have officially wrapped the European leg of The Eras Tour. With it came the most passionate crowds I’ve ever played for, new traditions in the show, and an entirely new era added in. It was a more hectic pace than we’d done before, and I’m so proud of my crew/fellow performers for being able to physically perform that show and build our massive stage, take it apart, and make magic with so few days in between for recovery and travel. They’re the most impressive people I know and I’m so lucky they gave The Eras Tour their time, their energy, and their expertise.

Walking onstage in London was a rollercoaster of emotions. Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us. Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows. In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that.

And then London felt like a beautiful dream sequence. All five crowds at Wembley Stadium were bursting with passion, joy, and exuberance. The energy in that stadium was like the most giant bear hug from 92,000 people each night, and it brought me back to a place of carefree calm up there. We had some EPIC surprise performances from my long time friends @teddysphotos, @florenceandthemachine, and @jackantonoff. Performing ‘Florida!!!’ with Flo for the first time was unforgettable and Ed took me right back to our old Red Tour memories. It was the most dizzying honor to become the first solo artist to play Wembley 8 times in one tour. To the fans who have seen us this summer, you’ll always have the most sparkling place in my memories. You were a dream to perform for, dance with, and share those magical moments with. We’ll see you all again when we resume The Eras Tour in October, but for now we get to take a much needed rest. Thank you for the adventure of a lifetime. May it continue…
💚💛💜❤️🩵🖤🩷🩶🤎💙🤍

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Threads on the cancellation and arrests:

 

[JazmineRice 806]

I don’t like that she felt the need to explain herself, but respect for choosing to anyway

[Knife 6,606]

I really hope we never have an incident like what happened at Ariana's concert ever again. 

[Arcanum 4,850]

A statement about the AI generated Trump endorsement?

[doraemon 918]

3 hours ago, Arcanum said:

A statement about the AI generated Trump endorsement?

not yet. she just finished her European tour.

[Bronco 5,695]

7 hours ago, Arcanum said:

A statement about the AI generated Trump endorsement?

Why does she need to make a statement about what is known by everyone to be fake?

Legitimately not seeing it come up on my political circle feeds, or on my tik tok/insta/facebook etc only people still talking about it like its some kind of factual gotcha moment is on here. If she starts talking about it its just going to give a dead fire oxygen to reignite. Leave it dead.

[Arcanum 4,850]

15 minutes ago, Bronco said:

Why does she need to make a statement about what is known by everyone to be fake?

Legitimately not seeing it come up on my political circle feeds, or on my tik tok/insta/facebook etc only people still talking about it like its some kind of factual gotcha moment is on here. If she starts talking about it its just going to give a dead fire oxygen to reignite. Leave it dead.

Of course there is a need to clarify it to everyone! It's politics, not a campfire ghost story! The fact that you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not talked about in general. People who are not familiar with AI, might possibly think the photos are real. There's elections coming, she is a huge public figure and she could sue his a$$ under the Lanham Act, to make him shut up for good, just like Beyonce did. 

[Sneaky Oliver 21,237]

I’m so confused by the Vienna thing. Is it not safe there? Is it common to have terrorist attacks? I mean why would anyone plot an attack there? In a Taylor Swift show? Is it possible these people were actually faking it like pretending to threaten just for the sake of it? So many questions 

[bionic 41,764]

18 minutes ago, Sneaky Oliver said:

I’m so confused by the Vienna thing. Is it not safe there? Is it common to have terrorist attacks? I mean why would anyone plot an attack there? In a Taylor Swift show? Is it possible these people were actually faking it like pretending to threaten just for the sake of it? So many questions 

• Like most of Europe, Austria has been on high terror alert for quite some time due to threats from radicalized Islamists
• Like most of Europe, Austria is generally safe and the real threat to any person is minimal but notable
• It was a specific attack planned on the concert
• Probably like the Ariana Grande attacks, they picked the concert because it was filled with young women/girls who don't subscribe to certain ideologies/live their lives a certain way AND were there to see a powerful/successful woman who does the same
• The guy planning the attack also provided security services for the arena which probably influenced his decision
• If the news articles are to be believed, the guy was planning a real attack but obviously we can't say if he actually would have done it when he turned up. Likely he would have but that's my own projection

 

If it makes you feel a tiny bit better, remember that the attack was prevented and the authorities clearly had the means to identify and extract this guy before harm could be done.

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/details-emerge-thwarted-terror-plot-taylor-swift-vienna-shows-1235076180/

[Bronco 5,695]

55 minutes ago, Arcanum said:

Of course there is a need to clarify it to everyone! It's politics, not a campfire ghost story! The fact that you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not talked about in general. People who are not familiar with AI, might possibly think the photos are real. There's elections coming, she is a huge public figure and she could sue his a$$ under the Lanham Act, to make him shut up for good, just like Beyonce did. 

The Lanham Act is untested for use over AI generated materials, no doubt the delay in any public C&D comes down to the legal teams having to go through additional work load to identify ways to use it and justify its precedent setting usage. The issue around using deepfake/AI to create false endorsements is that the Right of Publicity is not protected by any comprehensive federal law - trademark law would potentially allow her to C&D him using her images but that is all. Only 25 states have laws that would allow further C&D potential, but only at a state level. 

There's not always a need to take public action - the Streisand effect proves this. Let's look at the meme about JD Vance - that started as a comical meme that while funny and gained some virality wasn't taken seriously. Then his PR team started to try to combat it, raising it's profile and the level of seriousness with which people treated it. This then led to a major media outlet running a fact check on it, which created the moment in which it became a lingering PR disaster - because the media outlet was forced to remove it's fact check because it didn't follow editorial guidelines when it declared he had never ****ed a couch rather than saying there is no evidence to the current claims. 

Now lets look at the Taylor issue - no one took it seriously besides haters, Swifties went feral as per in attacking people who shared it. Any media outlet that covered it, of which there many, all referred to it from inception as a lie and that the images were AI generated. Coverage of the moment died out pretty quickly, because no one fanned the flames and now the only people talking about it daily are us weirdos on niche pop culture forums. And even we all start by saying it was an AI generated fake. 

So what does Taylor gain by creating a public legal battle around an issue which was DOA and gained zero traction? Nothing. 
Democrats would gain a high profile endorsement, great for them. 
MAGA extremists would become more pissed off and jaded than they already were. And what happens when MAGA extremists get pissed off at musicians on tour? Bomb threats and other forms of terrorism - see The Top of the World tour by the Dixie Chicks in 2003 when in one infamous tour date in Dallas, Natalie Maines was sent a letter with a specified date/time & location when she would be shot dead if she didn't "shut up and sing".
Lets face it being a female Taylor Swift fan is already proven to make you a target for violent chauvinist terrorism this year. 

I'd love for more celebrities to nail their colours to the mast. But in an era of political violence we've not seen in the US since the 60s any major act that is on tour is putting their fans lives in the cross hairs. Because people will try to do something, that is undeniable - its happened already. There's 3 dead little girls, multiple more seriously injured to prove that. 

[Kelly Atlantic 169]

9 hours ago, Arcanum said:

A statement about the AI generated Trump endorsement?

Wait til she goes onstage at DNC and does Eras Tour (Kamala’s Version) with the only song being a remixed audio of Blank Space but in the bridge it’s just “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” 

[Arcanum 4,850]

2 hours ago, Bronco said:

The Lanham Act is untested for use over AI generated materials, no doubt the delay in any public C&D comes down to the legal teams having to go through additional work load to identify ways to use it and justify its precedent setting usage. The issue around using deepfake/AI to create false endorsements is that the Right of Publicity is not protected by any comprehensive federal law - trademark law would potentially allow her to C&D him using her images but that is all. Only 25 states have laws that would allow further C&D potential, but only at a state level. 

There's not always a need to take public action - the Streisand effect proves this. Let's look at the meme about JD Vance - that started as a comical meme that while funny and gained some virality wasn't taken seriously. Then his PR team started to try to combat it, raising it's profile and the level of seriousness with which people treated it. This then led to a major media outlet running a fact check on it, which created the moment in which it became a lingering PR disaster - because the media outlet was forced to remove it's fact check because it didn't follow editorial guidelines when it declared he had never ****ed a couch rather than saying there is no evidence to the current claims. 

Now lets look at the Taylor issue - no one took it seriously besides haters, Swifties went feral as per in attacking people who shared it. Any media outlet that covered it, of which there many, all referred to it from inception as a lie and that the images were AI generated. Coverage of the moment died out pretty quickly, because no one fanned the flames and now the only people talking about it daily are us weirdos on niche pop culture forums. And even we all start by saying it was an AI generated fake. 

So what does Taylor gain by creating a public legal battle around an issue which was DOA and gained zero traction? Nothing. 
Democrats would gain a high profile endorsement, great for them. 
MAGA extremists would become more pissed off and jaded than they already were. And what happens when MAGA extremists get pissed off at musicians on tour? Bomb threats and other forms of terrorism - see The Top of the World tour by the Dixie Chicks in 2003 when in one infamous tour date in Dallas, Natalie Maines was sent a letter with a specified date/time & location when she would be shot dead if she didn't "shut up and sing".
Lets face it being a female Taylor Swift fan is already proven to make you a target for violent chauvinist terrorism this year. 

I'd love for more celebrities to nail their colours to the mast. But in an era of political violence we've not seen in the US since the 60s any major act that is on tour is putting their fans lives in the cross hairs. Because people will try to do something, that is undeniable - its happened already. There's 3 dead little girls, multiple more seriously injured to prove that. 

While I understand your point of view, I have recently read an article in which Leslie Garfield Tenzer (Law professor, Pace university) reflects on the legal action that TS could have taken due to the AI law loopholes. Maybe there are blurred lines, but a threat of legal action (cease-and-desist is the best case scenario) in case her image is used, would be more than enough. 

(Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2024/08/20/shake-if-off-taylor-swift-could-sue-trump-for-using-her-likeness/)

I also understand that in the previous elections she endorsed Biden, and most possibly her beliefs bend on the democratic party. However, because of this on-growing political fever and the exteme polarization caused by the republican party, it should be important to address any wrong doings and expose those who might have a chance to take our future into their own hands, even if it means rearranging the shows and raising up the security levels. 

What I really do miss, is the part that no one cares about it. I see it all the time on my social media!

Tbh though, on second thought at this point, after such a long time being afloat online, addressing it might be a publicity chance for Trump, so indeed it should matter not.

[Bronco 5,695]

2 hours ago, Arcanum said:

While I understand your point of view, I have recently read an article in which Leslie Garfield Tenzer (Law professor, Pace university) reflects on the legal action that TS could have taken due to the AI law loopholes. Maybe there are blurred lines, but a threat of legal action (cease-and-desist is the best case scenario) in case her image is used, would be more than enough. 

(Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2024/08/20/shake-if-off-taylor-swift-could-sue-trump-for-using-her-likeness/)

I also understand that in the previous elections she endorsed Biden, and most possibly her beliefs bend on the democratic party. However, because of this on-growing political fever and the exteme polarization caused by the republican party, it should be important to address any wrong doings and expose those who might have a chance to take our future into their own hands, even if it means rearranging the shows and raising up the security levels. 

What I really do miss, is the part that no one cares about it. I see it all the time on my social media!

Tbh though, on second thought at this point, after such a long time being afloat online, addressing it might be a publicity chance for Trump, so indeed it should matter not.

Honestly there may have been private C&D action, we don't know. 

I think the best media strategy is the tactic that's been taken - ignoring it & letting it die. The only people I've seen talk about it in the slightest are people who would call it an establishment deep state conspiracy if she came out heavy handed publicly. They ain't swifites, they're lunatics and they're a lost cause. Swifties know its fake, I've seen the rabid ones send public death threats to people sharing it on twitter 😅

Ultimately I don't think Swift will publicly endorse this time, I genuinely think the potential security risks inherent in siding against alt right terrorists is too high. But if she does endorse, it will be the first day early voting starts. There's no point using a high profile endorsement so early on that it's benefit burns out before its needed. 

[Taylucifer 5,061]

21 hours ago, Bronco said:

MAGA extremists would become more pissed off and jaded than they already were. And what happens when MAGA extremists get pissed off at musicians on tour? Bomb threats and other forms of terrorism - see The Top of the World tour by the Dixie Chicks in 2003 when in one infamous tour date in Dallas, Natalie Maines was sent a letter with a specified date/time & location when she would be shot dead if she didn't "shut up and sing".
Lets face it being a female Taylor Swift fan is already proven to make you a target for violent chauvinist terrorism this year. 

This is exactly why I do not think Taylor will be making any sort of statement, she is still touring, if she aggravates the wrong people it is not just her that could get hurt. 

2020 when she was making political statements was very different as she was at home, no tour was happening etc. While I do not agree with this decision and think that she should and hopefully will make some sort of statement, it seems very unlikely.