'I don’t know anything': Trump disowns Taylor Swift AI images he posted to Truth Social

23 August 2024

During a campaign stop earlier this week, former President Donald Trump appeared to distance himself from AI-generated images of pop singer Taylor Swift posted to his Truth Social platform — possibly to avoid a costly lawsuit.

The New Republic (TNR) reported that Trump went from writing "I accept!" on Truth Social, which was accompanied by a carousel of AI-generated photos.of pro-Trump imagery suggesting Swift was endorsing him, to disassociating himself from the post entirely. The images showed, among other things, Swift dressed as Uncle Sam with the text "TAYLOR WANTS YOU TO VOTE FOR DONALD TRUMP," and fake photos of women wearing shirts that read "Swifties for Trump."

"I don’t know anything about them, other than somebody else generated them," Trump told Fox Business reporter Gary Trimble. "I didn’t generate them."

“Somebody came out. They said, ‘Oh look at this,’” he continued. “These were all made up by other people. AI is always very dangerous in that way.”

TNR's Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling suggested that the former president may be particularly sensitive about the prospect of a costly lawsuit from Swift, who has a lengthy record of successful lawsuits. The billionaire pop star is known for sending cease-and-desist letters to anyone who uses her name, image or likeness without obtaining prior consent. She notably sued a Denver-based DJ for just $1 after he groped her.

But Trump's aversion to a lawsuit from a popular musical artist could also be due to legendary singer Beyoncé threatening to sue him this week over his unauthorized use of her song, "Freedom," in a campaign video posted to Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung's X (formerly Twitter) account. Rolling Stone reported that her team sent an official cease-and-desist letter to the 45th president of the United States' campaign over the 13-second video, which Cheung has since deleted.

That song – which was on Beyoncé's 2016 album Lemonade — has been adopted by Vice President Kamala Harris as her official campaign song. The Harris campaign obtained permission from the singer's team after President Joe Biden exited the race in late July, and it played in the background of her first official campaign video.

It's not clear whether Swift's representatives have sent Trump a cease-and-desist letter, and she has not yet publicly commented on Trump's Truth Social post. However, the former president remains fixated on the pop star, with TNR reporting that he insisted on discussing her during a meeting with Republican members of Congress in Washington, D.C., apparently over concern that she may endorse the Democratic ticket.

While the megastar has not yet weighed in on the 2024 race, Swift formally endorsed Biden in October of 2020 in an interview with V Magazine.

"The change we need most is to elect a president who recognizes that people of color deserve to feel safe and represented, that women deserve the right to choose what happens to their bodies, and that the LGBTQIA+ community deserves to be acknowledged and included," she said at the time.

Click here to TNR's report in full.

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