Taylor Swift was photographed holding a “Trump won, Democrats cheated!” flag.
Altered photo shows Taylor Swift holding a ‘Trump won’ flag
If your time is short
- The photo was altered.
-
The original Getty Images photo shows Swift standing with her hands clasped at a Sept. 24 National Football League game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bears in Kansas City, Missouri. There is no flag.
- Learn more about PolitiFact’s fact-checking process and rating system.
Taylor Swift is promoting false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent — at least according to an altered photo that’s getting a lot of online attention.
The picture shows Swift holding a flag that reads, “Trump won, Democrats cheated!” We’ve seen it on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
“Is this real?” conservative activist Benny Johnson asked on X when he shared the image.
No, it’s not.
These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
(Screenshot from X)
The photograph has been digitally manipulated. We found the original photo on Getty Images’ website, and it shows Swift, without the flag, standing with her hands clasped at a Sept. 24 National Football League game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bears in Kansas City, Missouri.
Comments on the posts showed that some users viewed the posts as satire, but others were confused. “Ok are you for real? So who side are you on?” one commenter wrote. Another said, “First thing she’s done that I liked! I hope the chiefs lose!”
PolitiFact has previously debunked multiple claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Joe Biden won the presidential election by 74 electoral votes and with 7 million more popular votes than former President Donald Trump.
Swift is dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and they have been recent targets of conservative conspiracy theories, including that Kelce’s team advanced to the Super Bowl so that Swift could endorse Biden in 2024.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a former 2024 Republican presidential candidate, posted Jan. 29 on X endorsing the conspiracy theory and the post received 2.7 million views that day.
Swift has not endorsed a candidate in the 2024 presidential race. She endorsed Biden in October 2020.
We rate the claim that Swift was photographed holding a “Trump won, Democrats cheated!” flag Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Instagram post (archived), Jan. 31, 2024
Twitter post (archived), Jan. 30, 2024
Facebook post (archived), Jan. 30, 2024
Getty Images, Chicago Bears v Kansas City Chiefs, Sep. 24, 2023
PolitiFact, Claims that the 2020 election was stolen are still false, May 24, 2022
PolitiFact, Trump’s baseless claim about 2020 election fraud and suspending the Constitution, Dec. 6, 2022
The New York Times, Presidential Election Results: Biden Wins, accessed Feb. 1, 2024
Council on Foreign Relations, The 2020 Election by the Numbers, Dec. 15, 2020
CBS News, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce conspiracy theories abound on political right with K.C. Chiefs in Super Bowl, Feb. 1, 2024
X post, Jan. 29, 2024
Axios, "Stick to singing": MAGA backlash against Taylor Swift gets ugly, Jan. 30, 2024
V Magazine, The Thought Leaders Issue: Taylor Swift, Oct. 7, 2020
