Taylor Swift’s dad feared for the singer’s life when she openly spoke out against Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn during the 2018 mid-term elections.
After years of shying away from controversial topics, Taylor made it clear she was a gay and women’s rights supporter and a fervent Democrat as she took on Blackburn, and in her new Netflix documentary Miss Americana, director Lana Wilson captures the moment the Love Story star told her parents she was getting political, despite warnings from publicists, who feared she would be attacked just like the Dixie Chicks were when they spoke out against President George W. Bush.
The trio was banned from country radio stations and former fans staged CD-burning protests to show the group just how much they disapproved of their remarks, made during a U.K. concert.
Speaking after the world premiere of Miss Americana at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah on Thursday night (23Jan20), Swift recalled the scene in which she spoke about her plans with her parents and revealed her dad was terrified something would happen to her.
“My dad has always just been terrified about my safety since I was a kid,” she said. “The fact that my job entails standing on a stage and there’s so many threats we get on a daily basis that nobody ever knows about and we just try to keep that stuff under wraps as much as possible, but my dad is the one who has to see it (sic).
“And so for him it was all about, ‘What could happen to you if you say this? If you say this, is my daughter in danger? Is this the moment that I should have stopped it from happening?'”
But Taylor refused to back down, adding, “Our political opinions and our opinions are defined by what happens to us in our life… Seeing what was happening in my home state, and it all culminating with having a conversation with people who’ve been so wonderfully supportive of me throughout my entire career, feeling so afraid for my safety…”
Miss Americana hits Netflix on 31 January (20).
