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John Mayer Seemingly Begged Swifties to ‘Be Kind’ Ahead of Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now’ Rerelease
Begging and pleading. John Mayer seemingly asked Taylor Swift fans to “be kind” to him ahead of the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
“It doesn’t get better than three nights at Folsom Field in Boulder with @deadandcompany. Oh wait no yes it does… it gets way better when Dave Matthews shows up and for four songs makes everyone believe they’re dreaming,” John, 45, captioned a series of photos shared via Instagram on Thursday, July 6. “The afterglow is still shining bright…”
Among the photos was an image of purple and pink lights in the sky above the Colorado concert venue that spelled out the words “Please Be Kind.”
The “Gravity” artist’s message was delivered just hours before Taylor’s rerecorded third studio album dropped, featuring her iconic diss track “Dear John,” which has long been reported to be about her 2009 relationship with John.
Despite John’s pleading, Swifties did not hold back in the comments section of his post, slamming the “Your Body Is a Wonderland” singer while defending Taylor.
“Now go stand in the corner and think about what you did,” one fan commented, taking a line directly out of Taylor’s song “Better Than Revenge.” “Would’ve could’ve should’ve turned ur comments off [sic],” another Swiftie commented, referencing Taylor’s song of her Midnights (3am Edition). “Bro kept his comments on … he’s bold,” yet another fan wrote.
While many fans followed suit, dissing John for the age gap in his relationship with a then-19-year-old Taylor, others listened to Taylor’s request not to “defend” her online.
“I get to stand on this stage every single night of this tour and watch some of the most beautiful things happen,” she told a Minneapolis crowd last month. “I watch you guys make friends with each other. I watch you bond. … I was hoping to ask you, as we lead up to [Speak Now] coming out, I would love for that kindness and that gentleness to extend onto our internet activities.”
Taylor continued, “I’m 33 years old. I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19 … I’m not putting this album out so that you can go and should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 billion years ago.”
Two years after the song’s original release, John opened up about his feelings towards the breakup anthem that shares his name, telling Rolling Stone in 2012 that the song made him “feel terrible.”
“I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that,” he added at the time. “It was a really lousy thing for her to do.”
