Viral Story About Man Who Bought And Smashed $4K ‘Taylor Swift-Signed Guitar’ Is Not Entirely Accurate

Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File

A viral story about a man who spent $4,000 on a guitar autographed by superstar Taylor Swift and then promptly smashed it with a hammer was proven to be not exactly what it seemed.

The guitar was an item up for bid at an auction held by the Ellis County WildGame Dinner organization in Waxahachie, Texas on Saturday, with the proceeds going towards agricultural education for the local youth. During the event, an unnamed man won the guitar and then took to the stage to destroy it. The moment was captured on video and posted to Twitter/X on Sunday and soon went viral:

The motivation for the man’s wanton destruction was never explained, but one thing that was explained after the fact was that the guitar was not actually signed by Taylor Swift. It was also not played by Taylor Swift, nor was it official Taylor Swift merch. This, according to Swift’s merch representatives, according to Variety:

But contrary to media reports, the guitar the man destroyed had not been signed by Swift — and was not a certified official guitar used by the singer, a source close to her merch company confirmed to Variety. The organization that held the auction, the Ellis County WildGame Dinner, presented the guitar with a signed CD insert but the guitar itself was not signed.

No word on the current state of the CD insert, or the CD that, apparently, was not offered as a prize.

While neither the man in the video nor the Ellis County WildGame Dinner provided any reason for the smashing, there are some people in the United States of America who are not fans of Taylor Swift. One of those people is the 45th President of the United States and the current Republican candidate for president Donald Trump, who recently declared: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”