Zach Bryan may have learned the hard way that some fandoms are not to be trifled with, especially when Taylor Swift and her army of Swifties are involved.
In a tweet that seemed harmless at first but quickly escalated, the country singer sparked a social media firestorm by comparing the Love Story singer with her long-time rival Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
He also struck a nerve when he pitted the Philadelphia Eagles with Kansas City Chiefs, the team that Taylor’s boyfriend Travis Kelce is a tight end for.
Zach Bryan struck a nerve with Taylor Swift's army of Swifties after comparing the hitmaker with her long-time rival Ye, formerly known as Kanye West
Image credits: Keith Griner/Getty Images
Image credits: Gotham/GC Images
“Eagles > chiefs,” Zach wrote in his tweet, followed by “Kanye > Taylor.”
“Who’s with me?” he then asked his audience.
The Heading South singer’s tweet did not sit well with Swifties.
“He knew not to mess with the Swifties,” read one comment on a Pop Crave post about the tweet.
“got all brave just to wimp out and deactivate,” quipped another.
The country singer deactivated his account following the backlash over his tweet
Image credits: chartstswift/zachlanebryan
Image credits: zachlanebryan
After the swift (pun intended) backlash, he deactivated his X account and posted a lengthy apology on Instagram for drunk-tweeting.
“For the recond guys I wasn’t coming for Taylor the other night. I was drunkenly comparing two records and it came out wrong,” he wrote in an Instagram Story. “I know there’s a lot of stuff that clouds around Ye and I was speaking purely musically. I love Taylor’s music and pray you guys know I’m human and tweet stupid things often.”
“Hope one day I can explain this to her. Twitter gets me in trouble too much and I’d say it’s best I stay off it,” he continued. “I’m sorry to any Taylor fans I pissed off or let down. Love you guys and I’m trying my best!”
“I respect her so much as a musician that the last thing I want is people thinking I don’t appreciate and love what she has done for music," the singer wrote in a lengthy apology
In a follow-up Instagram Story, the singer said he has been going through “a hard time” in life and may have been “projecting a little.”
“To be completely honest, it just came off as rude and desensitized to Taylor,” he wrote. “I respect her so much as a musician that the last thing I want is people thinking I don’t appreciate and love what she has done for music. Okay, that’s the last of it! Love you guys and hope you guys understand. Don’t drink and tweet. Don’t drink and tweet!”
That wasn't the end of it as Zach uploaded another Instagram Story saying, “Not saving face here, but Taylor has been a force of nature for as long as we’ve all been growing up and I admire that. I’m gonna go listen to this record now.”
“I never want people to think I have a hint of malice or meanness towards anyone, ever, that’s why I’m saying all this.”
In the message posted to his Instagram Stories, Zach also spoke about having a "hard time" and has been having an "awful year"
Image credits: swiftpage13/zachlanebryan
He concluded the lengthy apology note by saying he’s been having an “awful” year and intends to finish his tour and then take some time to “ground” himself.
“This year has been an awful lot on me in personal ways that no one knows and I’ve been trying to cope and balance too many things at once,” he said. “So I’m going to take a breather from tweeting stupid stuff, finish my tour, and ground myself somehow in the midst of all this. I feel very, very blessed each day.”
“Not taking it for granted and holding onto it has been so important to me,” he concluded. “Okay, needed to get this off my chest, yall are the best…”
Netizens had mixed feelings to his response, with some saying they don't believe him while others appreciated his apology
