A super defense of Taylor Swift

I have been very fortunate in the occupation I selected.

I knew I would never get rich, but I never imagined it would bring a boy from the tenements of the South Bronx into contact with the rich, powerful, and famous.

It’s not what I wanted when I first knocked on journalism’s front door.

I had a gift for writing, newspapers were filled with (mostly, then) men who cursed, drank, and smoked. The few female journalists did, too, most of them. I met my first wife on my college newspaper, and, yes, she cursed, drank and smoked.

It was a fun environment. The thing I liked best was being the first person to know the news, which I then passed along to others.

That’s what news reporters did, and I did that for more than a decade until I was hired to be the features editor of the Philadelphia Daily News.

Suddenly, I was in entertainment — everything from television, radio, film, theater, dining, to ballet, opera, and museums.

Instead of interviewing crime victims or businessmen, I was suddenly thrust into the arts.

Over the years, I interviewed everyone from A to Z — Frankie Avalon to Janet Zappala.

I was a Class B celebrity in the Philadelphia constellation, in with the In Crowd, which, honestly, I never cared for. It wasn’t me, but it became me.

Don’t worry — I’m not going to sing  “What I Did for Love,” from “A Chorus Line.”

Oh, yeah. I was a theater critic for two years, and a TV critic for five, before moving into the realm of gossip, which I probably am best known for. To my semi-chagrin.

Gossip was something I never cared for, but a job opened up, and it was a column, and an important one at the Daily News, so I dived in and stayed 17 years, which was a Daily News record for that job.

I rubbed elbows with celebrities, and when it came to evaluating celebrities, I had a simple test: 

If male, would I like to have a beer with him?

If female, would I want to get her into bed?

Just kidding. That’s not it.

I would ask myself if I would be proud if she were my daughter?

And that brings us to the Super Bowl and the biggest Super Star, Taylor Swift.

Would I be proud if she were my daughter?

Yes.

I guess that makes me a Swiftie, but I don’t know as much about her as others, so here I turn the column over to  a post by Jordan LeVeck, which has been edited.

“This is probably going to tick some people off, and I hope it does. But I’m going to keep on sharing it and saying it. And once again, I am not a Swiftie, but I am a human being, a Dad AND, a Monstrous Football fan.

“I am extremely disappointed in so many of you who think that ‘not being a fan’ of someone means you’re entitled to shit all over them.

“I want to remind you of something.

“Your children are watching you complain about Taylor Swift sitting at a football game, being happy, and cheering for a man she loves in what appears to be a very loving, respectful relationship.

“Your children are watching you judge a woman for literally just EXISTING and taking up space happily.

“And you know what? Ms. Swift has won 324 awards. How many do you have?

“She brought $5 BILLION dollars in consumer spending and boosted the U. S. economy so significantly that leaders from other countries actually beg for her to play there.

“Did you know that there are over 20 college courses about her skills as an artist, lyricist, and musician — including at places like Harvard, Stanford and UC Berkeley?

“Did you know that Taylor Swift quietly donates mass amounts of money to local food banks in every city she performs in?

“AND DID YOU KNOW …

“That Taylor Swift was sexually assaulted by a radio DJ, and she got him fired? When he sued HER for over $3 million for defamation, she counter sued for a symbolic $1 in a court case that took 2 YEARS for her to win. And, she did that just to show women that fighting for what’s right has no price tag and to never be silent in the face of oppression.

“WELL, IF YOU DON’T CARE BY NOW, YOU SHOULD.

“Because your daughters, nieces, and your nephews are watching you run your mouth. And they are seeing the world hate a woman who does so much good, simply because she exists in their line of sight. 

“DO BETTER PEOPLE. 

“Teach your boys to respect women. Teach your girls that as women — they are ALLOWED to take up space.

“Fix it. Become aware of your words. Because we all have the ability and the obligation to fight for the future of our children with simple moments. And we need to consciously choose to be better for them.”

Well said, Mr. LeVeck.

In addition to food banks, I know she has made gifts to animal shelters because she loves animals. And other charities I am not aware of. That’s part of her brand. She also fights for artists’ rights, has beat recording companies at their own game, and handed out $55 million in bonuses to the army of workers on her Eras tour. (That includes 50 bus drivers who got a reported $100,000 each.)

She is unbelievably gracious to her fans. 

Cynics say she does it to further her career. “Haters gonna hate,” she might reply. She is strong, independent, happy.

She seems, well, nice and normal, and yet is a magnet for hate, perhaps driven by jealousy, or by disdain for her mildly Left political views. Yes, she is pro-choice. So are a majority of Americans. 

Yes, she voted for Joe Biden in 2020. So did 81 million Americans. She is not a radical.

I haven’t seen so much hate directed toward an innocent female since the days of vicious attacks on the Miss America contestants by raging, bra-burning feminists in the ‘70s, who could have chosen more substantial targets. And some did. 

If women are free to make their own choices, a bedrock belief of feminism, that would include pageants. [Personal disclosure: Two of my friends, both highly successful women, were Pageant contestants, one becoming Miss Pennsylvania.] 

As for the Miss America contestants, I would be proud if my daughter were among them.

Just like Taylor.