Taylor Swift Provides Temporary Housing To Homeless

Sorry, not the feelgood post you're probably looking for.

So much for summoning demonic forces to defeat the Christofascists, amirite?(Screengrab: “Karma” music video)

When Taylor Swift launched her Eras world tour nearly two years ago, her team had the foresight to schedule the final two stops after the US election to take place in Canada. No idea if the idea was ever floated of a triumphant return to Arizona where the highest grossing tour in history began but it would’ve risked ending things on a sour note in a red state with the very real prospect of clueless Trumpty Dumptys in the audience screaming their heads off to “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Simply shaking it off may not be as easy as she’s led us to believe.

I doubt there’s a huge Venn diagram overlap between Swifties and not-so-swift voters but statistically there’d be more than just a few of the latter in attendance, even if mostly limited to cops, chaperones, Teamsters, and shitty partners.

Or protesters, if we’re there yet.

I naively believed a cavalry led by Taylor the Swift would gallop to the rescue like the Riders of Rohan if they stopped for Instagram selfies during the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Like I thought women in general would save our asses after the Access Hollywood tape eight long years ago. Fool me once etc.

But her fan base is nearly three-quarters white, and we all know by now which way 57 percent of them went. The same way a depressing 45 percent of total female voters did, as per NBC exit polls.

At least some unhoused folks will have a roof over their heads during her weeklong stay at Toronto’s Skydome Rogers Centre. (Yes, that’s how Canadians spell “center” — it’s a British colony thing.) An unspecified number of Torontonians were offered hotel accommodation at taxpayer expense after police cleared out tents from nearby Roundhouse Park for “safety” reasons. Which is ironic because many of them chose the location specifically for the busy urban park’s CCTV cameras that provide an element of security.

“The individuals surrounding Rogers Centre are being offered a space in the city’s shelter system to help ensure their safety,” a city spokesperson told the Toronto Star. “The city of Toronto looks at all aspects of safety for residents, businesses and visitors when large-scale events occur.”

Which may come as surprise to anyone who had their skulls cracked by police during the G20 summit meeting in 2010.

It may seem ludicrous to suggest city officials are legitimately concerned about the threat to the physical wellbeing of its homeless population — estimated at around 11,000 people — posed by Swift’s more exuberant stans and that this is just government-speak to justify sweeping PR problems under the rug for the duration of the show. But this is also the same city where eight teenaged girls allegedly swarmed and stabbed a homeless man to death just a few blocks away, so they at least have some cover.

Although it’s hard to imagine how they managed to find any available beds last minute when — again — the Taylor Swift Eras Tour is in town.

Maybe they’ll make a similar offer when Billy Joel plays it in March although the Downtown Man won’t be bringing an estimated half a million extra people to the downtown core like Taytay is. No information about the number of people temporarily housed has been released or what specific hotels in Tranna’s shelter system were made available but it seems a safe bet it won’t be at the Rogers Centre itself, which has a swanky 348-room hotel attached with 70 directly overlooking the action.

But it’s better than how struggling New Orleans residents sleeping rough outside the Superdome were treated a few weeks ago for her last stop on home soil. In what seems like a dry run for running roughshod over civil liberties with the upcoming Super Bowl in February, around 75 people living under a nearby overpass, along with others living on the streets in the adjacent French Quarter, were pushed into a makeshift encampment several blocks away before a judge issued a temporary restraining order directing police to stop stealing people’s shit and to notify those relocated to the “state sanctioned camp” they are actually free to leave. State troopers allegedly told complacent citizens that “the governor wants you to move because of the Taylor Swift concert,” according to the Associated Press.

Governor Jeff Landry, a dyed-in-the-wool MAGA sewer clown who fought the Biden administration over vaccine and mask mandates when he was still Louisiana’s attorney general, has made it very clear the financially indisposed won’t have it easy in the Big Easy.

Incoming GOP Louisiana Gov Jeff Landry Is YIKES

But will the superstar herself still be welcome in the Pelican state? Sure, she injects gazillions of dollars into local economies wherever she farts, but the notable childless cat lady ALSO has a reputation for putting certain ideas into little girls’ heads they aren’t second-class citizens and can grow up to become anything they put their mind to. There’s going to be bad blood.

The world’s second wealthiest musician, who of course endorsed Kamala Harris, has yet to post anything on her socials since the election. Presumably the tortured poet is struggling to wrap her head around this new era just like the rest of us are.

Your aspiring new Canadian boyfriend has finally flushed the Xitter and is dutifully giving BlueSky a try

[NBC / Toronto Star / AP]