We could be a beautiful, miracle, unbelievable, Taylor Nation.
Turn back the clock a year to August 14, 2017. Taylor was in a civil court counter-suing for sexual harassment. The jury came in, believed Taylor’s account of the events and awarded her the symbolic $1 dollar. It’s a strange memory, marred by media, disbelief and unrequited groping but it has a bittersweet sense of victory.
That would seem like the obvious outcome, but it wasn’t. It was almost incredibly close for that decision to have gone the other way had it not been by Taylor having to defend her version of what happened. She had probably one of the best legal teams, she was a known public figure, and still it all came down to her defending herself from the other lawyer. If you’ve never read Taylor’s comebacks on the stand, you really should.
On the anniversary of the jury’s decision, Taylor was playing the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida when she reminisced about those times. While fans, very conscious about the date, waved $1 dollar bills, some real and some fake versions with Taylor’s face on them.
A year ago I was not playing in a stadium in Tampa. I was in a courtroom in Denver, Colorado. Honestly, I was there for a sexual assault case and this day, a year ago, was the day that the jury sided in my favor and said that they believed me.
I guess I just think about all the people that weren’t believed and the people who haven’t been believed, and the people who are afraid to speak up because they think they won’t be believed.
I just wanted to say I’m sorry to anyone who ever wasn’t believed. Because I don’t know what turn my life would’ve taken if people didn’t believe me when I said that something had happened to me.
So I guess I just wanted to say that we have so, so, so much further to go and I am so grateful for you guys to be there for me during what was a really, really horrible part of my life.
I wanted to thank you for just kind of… I mean I know when I meet you guys at meet-and-greets and after the shows, you guys tell me about the hard times that you’ve gone through in your lives and I really appreciate you trusting me with that information.
And you know you guys have seen me go through so many ups and downs in my life just due to the public nature of the way my life is, and I just wanted to say that I’m so happy to see you and to have you and know you through the ups and the downs in my life.
Sorry I just haven’t really talked about it, and so I’m just not composed at all.
Taylor Swift
Tampa, FL. August 14, 2018
You can read more about her speech on People.com.
The Sparkly Dressed’s surprise song on the b-stage was “Invisible”.
Coming up next in the Calendar:
- August 18: Hard Rock Stadium. Miami, FL.
- August 25: Nissan Stadium. Nashville, TN.
- August 28: Ford Field. Detroit, MI.
- August 31: U.S. Bank Stadium. Minneapolis, MN.
(Sources: Twitter, Instagram, People.com. Featured photo via @TaylorNation13)
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