Taylor Swift Fans’ Harassment of Jake Gyllenhaal Has Gotten Very Ugly

Rich Fury/GettyBefore we get to the Swifties’ harassment campaign against their fearless leader’s resurrected nemesis, allow me to make a few things clear: Taylor Swift is a phenomenally gifted songwriter and her album Red, the last vestige of her country roots and a bridge to pop-music stardom, is her crowning achievement. I saw her perform three times on the original Red tour—each was nothing short of incredible. And it should go without saying, but Swift is entitled to write songs about whatever she damn well pleases—including past relationships that have affected her. After all, men have received far less criticism for penning stomach-turning hits on everything from fantasizing about killing their spouse and committing statutory rape to coveting their best friend’s wife. Swift, it’s worth noting, is re-recording all of her albums in order to gain ownership of her master recordings—something that all musical artists should control, and that has historically been wrested from them by label vultures (in Swift’s case, this is complicated somewhat by her father’s ownership stake in her original label). And so, Red (Taylor’s Version) held the internet hostage last week, shattering Spotify records en route to an estimated 500,000-plus copies sold in its first week, an astronomical sum for a re-release and the highest first-week sales total of 2021.The first iteration of Red, released in November 2012, was inspired by her relationship with the actor Jake Gyllenhaal, which lasted from October to December of 2011, when she was 20 and he was 29. Who can forget this outrageous Us Weekly cover story: Read more at The Daily Beast.