The Pentagon has dismissed Fox News’ speculation that Taylor Swift is a political “asset” for the US government. The controversy began when “Fox News” host Jesse Watters questioned whether the 34-year-old could be part of a CIA psychological operation and serve as a “front for a covert political agenda.”
The conspiracy theory
Watters argued in a five-minute post that the artist’s rapid career and popularity were suspicious. “Taylor Swift is the biggest star in the world… but have you ever wondered why or how she became so suddenly famous,” he began his talk. The moderator further referred to a clip from 2019, which comes from a conference with NATO participation. There, the 34-year-old was cited as an example of an influential person, and the Pentagon’s psychological warfare division reportedly suggested including her in combating online misinformation.
See the post here:
However, these claims were debunked by news website Mediaite when it emerged that the woman in the video did not work for the Pentagon but was a research engineer at Johns Hopkins University. Nevertheless, “Fox News” continued to pursue the conspiracy theory.
“We are going to shake it off”
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh responded to the speculation by making a reference to Swift’s lyrics to the song “Shake It Off” from her record “1989” to Politico: “As for this conspiracy theory, we are going to shake it off.” (in German: As far as this conspiracy theory is concerned, we will shake it off”).
Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off”:
The democratic non-profit organization Vote.org, with which the “Anti Hero” singer has partnered, also rejected the allegations. Andrea Hailey, head of Vote.org, emphasized that her organization is not engaged in psychological warfare but is focused on encouraging young people to register to vote.
Jesse Watters admitted that neither he nor Fox News had concrete evidence to support their theory. However, he speculated about a possible role of Swift’s relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce and discussed how the government might use the singer with a former FBI agent.