A guitar believed to be autographed by Taylor Swift, which was sold for $4,000 to a man who then smashed it, was reportedly not signed by the singer.
On September 28, the Ellis County WildGame Dinner in Waxahachie, Texas hosted an auction event for charity. According to their website, the Ellis County WildGame Dinner aims to ‘support agricultural and rural education for the youth of Ellis County.’
The organization promoted on their Facebook page that their charity auction would feature a ‘guitar autographed by country music star Taylor Swift.’
At the event, a man placed a $4,000 bid on the guitar and then immediately smashed it with a hammer. Footage of the incident went viral, with one video on Twitter amassing over 22 million views this week.
Watch the viral clip below:
A new twist emerged as a source close to Swift’s merchandise company told HuffPost that the guitar was neither signed by Swift nor an officially certified guitar used by her.
The source further mentioned that a genuine signed guitar by Swift would include a certificate of authenticity, which the auctioned guitar apparently lacked.
Variety has also reported that the guitar came with a signed CD insert, but the guitar itself was not autographed.
Social media reactions to the man’s purchase have been mixed. Some of Swift’s supporters speculated that his actions were politically motivated given the singer’s endorsement of Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris.
“A grown man paying $4,000 to destroy a guitar to impress Trump is next level pathetic,” one Twitter user commented.
“It doesn’t affect Taylor Swift and he just lost $4,000,” another remarked.
“Imagine spending $4k on a guitar when there’s literally an emergency situation on the east coast,” another user noted, referencing Hurricane Helene. “That $4k could have [helped] a lot of other people instead of some collector.”
Other fans pointed out that the guitar appeared counterfeit.
“The funniest part is that this [is] definitely a fake signed guitar like it has the wrong Era’s Tour logo and font I’m crying,” one fan tweeted.