on Taylor Swift.

Why it stings like personal betrayal when our faves are problematic

The TikTok algorithm may be scarily accurate, but there’s usually one random thing it gets wrong. For me, it’s that TikTok thinks I’m a Swiftie.

I was confused at first when my For You Page insisted on showing me Swiftie memes. Who is Blondie? When did she stop dating Harry Styles?

But in spite of my confusion and swiping, TikTok persisted. So yeah, I’ve been—somewhat against my will—informed of the current Matty Healy situation and how hurtful that’s been to so many groups of people.

If you don’t know: Swift is romantically linked to Healy, lead singer of The 1975. She’s been spotted holding hands with him and has brought him out at her Eras Tour shows. Fans are upset because Matty Healy has said some pretty racist, misogynistic, and downright scary stuff, including racist remarks about Ice Spice and revealing that he gets off to videos of Black women being “brutalized.” He also said it would be “emasculating” to date Taylor in 2016.