The mother of a child who inspired one of Taylor Swift’s most heartfelt songs has reacted after a Donald Trump fan account shared an image of the pop star out of context.
Maya Thompson, whose late son inspired the 2021 Swift song “Ronan,” took to X to share her frustration, after the Trump page recirculated a photo of Swift looking distressed following one of the song’s live performances.
The account, which has over 200,000 followers and shares regular updates about the former president, used the image of Swift when referring to her recent endorsement of Kamala Harris, claiming in the accompanying caption that her support of Trump’s opponent lost her “an estimated 150 million dollars over the boycotting of her merchandise and memorabilia.”
It’s worth noting that no credible news sources have reported any financial losses for Swift following her endorsement of Harris. The post featured the photo of Swift looking clearly saddened and wiping away tears, attempting to attribute that to the claims of the caption. Thompson, however, was quick to clarify where the photo was actually taken, writing on X that she was “going to throw up” after seeing the recirculated images.
“Is this real?,” Thomspon wrote. “Are they using a picture of [Taylor Swift] crying after she performed “Ronan” about my child?” The reaction feels fitting given the gravity of “Ronan,” which Swift dedicated to the namesake child following his death at just three years old from a rare form of cancer in the nervous system. Thompson would regularly post blogs about her son’s health, some of which were used in the lyrics of “Ronan” and led to the mother being credited as a co-writer.
In a follow-up post, Thompson criticized the Trump fan account for uploading “an image of someone visibly upset as a pawn in your political agenda,” and described the original post as “MISINFORMATION.” She went on to say that using the photo relating to her son’s death was “VILE,” and even took her commentary over to TikTok.
Here, Thompson clarified that the image was taken after Swift’s performance of “Ronan” at the Stand Up to Cancer telethon in 2012. After that, the song was added to the extended track list of one of Swift’s re-released albums, Red (Taylor’s Version). “This was horrifically upsetting to me and very triggering,” Thompson said of the photos’ recirculation in the TikTok video.
Thompson said she “could breathe again” after the images were removed from the Trump fan account, and later took to X to thank followers for their support throughout the ordeal. It’s the latest in a long string of tensions between Trump and Swift (mostly on Trump’s part) following the singer’s endorsement of Harris, with the Republican candidate writing in a Truth Social post that he “HATE[S] TAYLOR SWIFT.”
Bette Midler was among the legions of supporters who flocked to Swift’s defense while describing Trump’s attacks on her as both “dangerous” and “illegal.” For his part, Trump’s running mate JD Vance tried to downplay the significance of Swift’s endorsement, saying without a slither of irony that voters aren’t “influenced by a billionaire celebrity.”