Dave Grohl sparked online controversy by implying that Taylor Swift lip syncs (Picture: Getty Images)
Dave Grohl took a shot at Taylor Swift during a recent Foo Fighters concert and immediately created an unexpected fandom war.
The rock icon, 55, spoke to the crowd between songs during a London tour stop on June 22, explaining that they had nicknamed their tour the ‘errors tour’ as a cheeky reference to Swift’s record-setting Era’s Tour – but he didn’t stop there.
Grohl had referenced the tour earlier in the night, as Swift’s London show took place at Wembley Stadium the same weekend as the Foo Fighter’s London Stadium performances.
He said: ‘I know we were joking about the Taylor Swift tour earlier, I know that she’s on her Eras Tour. I’m telling you, man, you don’t want to suffer the wrath of Taylor Swift.
‘So we like to call our tour the errors tour because I feel like we’ve had more than a few eras and more than a few f***ing errors as well. Just a couple.’
He then stepped away from the microphone for a moment before stepping back again to deliver a scathing remark. He said: ‘That’s because we actually play live, WHAT?!?’
He then grinned and shrugged as the crowd cheered, following up the implication that the pop star lip syncs with: ‘Just saying. You guys like live rock ‘n roll music? You came to the right f***ing place.’
Fan footage of the moment quickly went viral on TikTok, sparking firey responses from those defending Swift as well as fans of Grohl’s who didn’t see a problem with his comments.
Many felt the dig was an uncharacteristically low blow from the Foo Fighter’s lead singer, who has been supportive of Swift in the past.
Grohl has previously been supportive of Swift’s career (Picture: WireImage)
Many fans felt that Grohl’s comment was ‘bitter’ and uncalled for (Picture: Getty Images)
X user @lemonadeslay wrote: ‘Dave Grohl knows that dissing Taylor Swift is probably how he’ll get most people to even know that his band was in London too. The city stopped for her, he saw her face everywhere and that triggered something in his fragile male ego. Boo hoo.’
@indianas0nes wrote: ‘Didn’t have waking up to a video of Dave Grohl being bitter about Taylor Swift on my bingo card. Genuinely expected better of him.’
@NedPops agreed, posting: ‘Not sure why Dave Grohl feels the need to score points off Taylor Swift, feels like a very cheap shot from someone who’s normally not so petty.’
Grohl implied that Swift doesn’t actually play live at her shows (Picture: Getty Images)
User @al_xh_ found the comment ‘sad,’ writing: ‘I’ve been a Foo Fighters fan for honestly most of my life, and i’m currently feeling really put off because of Dave Grohl’s comments about Taylor Swift the other night? like it seemed so uncharacteristic and sour of him to rag on another artist idk i’m just sad.’
But some members of the online peanut gallery have sided with Grohl, arguing that there’s no way that Swift sings live for the entirety of her concerts and generally celebrating Grohl’s shot at the superstar.
Reddit user @GarethGobblecoque99 wrote: ‘Any real musician knows she’s not actually playing or singing for that long. Her vocal chords would be shot to sh** and like she can barely play the guitar.’
@Clancy2o1 put it a bit more harshly, writing: ‘I can think of a few rock and roll bands who do performances as long as or longer than hers but they have actual talent. She’s not singing because she doesn’t have to, the brainwashed Swifties will think it’s the best concert they’ve ever been to no matter how little work she actually does.’
Many comments on the viral TikTok were not in support of Grohl (Picture: TikTok)
@Anhinga_ posted: ‘You know it’s bad when Dave Grohl, one of the most wholesome, talented, down to earth people in music, is calling out bs. It’s wild to me that people shell out thousands a ticket for lip syncing and snot flinging.’
@SidheAnomaly wrote: ‘Dave Grohl is awesome, all around. So happy to see him shading Taylor – well deserved – and I love the fact that the audience is booing at the mention of the Eras tour. This is amazing. Nice to see some of the old-school rockers aren’t jumping on the Swift bandwagon!’
Many have speculated that Grohl’s outburst is in response to backlash his daughter faced from Swift’s fans recently.
Earlier this year, Violet Grohl, 18, reportedly posted since-deleted tweets criticising Swift’s use of a private jet. She also reportedly made comments about AI porn featuring Swift that have also been deleted.
Some fans have speculated that Grohl’s comment was prompted by online backlash his daughter faced after criticising Swift (Picture: Getty Images)
In response, Swift’s fans began to criticise the teenager on the platform, soon causing her to delete her entire account.
Some felt that the Swifties’ treatment of Grohl’s daughter justified his comment (Picture: Reddit)
Now, many fans believe that Grohl’s comment about Swift lip syncing is directly related to the online controversy his daughter faced.
Fans have also pointed out that former Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear is evidently not in agreement with Grohl, as he was seen in attendance at one of Swift’s recent shows.
While it remains unclear what exactly inspired Grohl to take a shot at Swift, it’s clear that the online firestorm it created isn’t dying down any time soon.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to representatives of Taylor Swift and Dave Grohl for comment.
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