A viral video shows a man destroying what is claimed to be a guitar autographed by Taylor Swift, turning an auctioned keepsake into culture war kindling.
The video, which is going viral on TikTok and X, was captured on Saturday in Waxahachie, Texas, at an event known as the Ellis County Wild Game Dinner.
The guitar, according to the popular right-wing X user @TONYxTWO, sold for $4,000, purchased by a gentleman who swiftly destroyed it with a hammer.
“Omg lol!!!! Guy bought a signed Taylor Swift guitar at a live auction for $4,000, only to destroy it,” the user wrote.
The event, which aside from the auction and dinner also included a gun raffle, is “committed to supporting agricultural and rural education to the youth of Ellis County,” according to the Ellis County Wild Game Dinner website.
“We invest in our youth by offering scholarships, animal and ag mechanics project grants, and purchasing projects at Elllis County Youth Expo,” the website reads. “We will do everything within our power to help youth that are willing to work to better themselves, and give them the resources they need to reward themselves.”
The Daily Dot reached out to the Ellis County Wild Game Dinner to inquire about the guitar but did not receive a reply.
The group posted the guitar, alongside other auction items, on its Facebook page last week.
While it’s unclear exactly why the man destroyed the guitar immediately after purchasing it, the footage comes just a little over two weeks after Swift revealed that she would be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming presidential election.
Conservatives at the time reacted with outrage to the endorsement. Billionaire Elon Musk even went as far as to offer to impregnate Swift in response.
The disdain for Swift explains the jubilation seen online after the video blew up.
“Based!!” one user replied.
“Money well spent,” another added.
But the vast majority of responses leaned negative and mocked the man in the video.
“Spending a huge amount of money to do something entirely performative that your political opponents won’t even register is a convenient microcosm of a lot of right-wing politics,” the user Ben Sixsmith argued.
“Having this kind of hate for a celebrity who hasn’t adversely affected your life at all isn’t weird in the slightest,” another sarcastically said.
But Swift has long been the target of conservatives.
Conspiracy theorists on the right have repeatedly claimed that the singer’s relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce is part of a “Democratic psyop” run by the Pentagon, which will swing the upcoming 2024 election.
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