Pop superstar Taylor Swift won album of the year at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 4 for “Midnights,” breaking the record for most wins in the category with four.
Earlier in the night, while she accepted her win for best pop vocal album, Swift also announced that her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” will drop on April 19.
A video of Swift that has since gone viral on social media appears to show her promoting false claims of election fraud on the Grammys red carpet. In the video, Swift is seen holding a flag that says, “Trump won, Democrats cheated!”
Some commenters questioned if the video of Swift holding the flag is real.
THE QUESTION
Is the video of Taylor Swift holding a pro-Trump flag at the 2024 Grammys real?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, the video of Taylor Swift holding a pro-Trump flag at the 2024 Grammys is not real.
WHAT WE FOUND
The video of Taylor Swift holding a flag that says, “Trump won, Democrats cheated!” is not real. It’s been manipulated.
VERIFY found the original video of Swift walking the Grammys red carpet on Variety magazine’s X account. That video does not show Swift holding the pro-Trump flag or any kind of political memorabilia.
Swift is also wearing black gloves in the real video. The fake video, which was posted by an account that creates parody content, has been edited to show bare hands holding the sign.
We also conducted a reverse image search to find the flag that Swift is holding in the altered video. It led us to this listing on eBay.
The creases and shadows on the flag seen in the fake video are the same as those seen on the flag in the eBay listing.
If you watch the fake video closely, there are other telltale signs that it’s been manipulated. For example, the image with the hands remains static while the rest of Swift’s body is moving on the red carpet.
This isn’t the first time that an image of Swift has been altered to include the same pro-Trump flag.
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted a photo of Swift holding up the flag on X in late January, asking, “Is this real?” That post garnered more than 2 million views.
That photo was edited from a real one of Taylor at the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 24, 2023.
Swift has not publicly endorsed Trump. She did endorse Biden during the 2020 presidential election but hasn’t publicly endorsed any candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »
