A Texas man who went viral after purchasing a Taylor Swift-themed guitar at auction for $4,000, only to destroy it with a hammer seconds later, says he did the stunt for a laugh and claims there was no malicious intent.
Gary Estes, 67, drew the ire of many Swifties over the weekend when a video was posted on social media showing him smashing a Swift-branded guitar at a charity event.
He had won the coveted instrument, adorned with images of the pop superstar, at the Ellis County Wild Game Dinner in Waxahachie, Texas. Seconds after approaching the stage to retrieve the object, he smashed it with a hammer 17 times.
“I guess we don’t need the wall hanger,” the auctioneer joked before saying, “Hey, Gary, now take that and hang that broken thing up.”
The video, uploaded to tiktok by event attendee JD Cobb, immediately went viral. Many saw it as an act of degradation related to Swift’s recent endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“We are in an area (Ellis County) where Trump is quite common” Cobb told USA Today, confirming that he also thought it was a snub against Swift. “Especially among country people, there aren’t many people here like Taylor Swift.”
Get daily national news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic and current affairs headlines delivered to your inbox once a day.
But Estes insists it was just a prank and “there’s nothing wrong with it.”
“There was nothing malicious or anything about it,” he told NBC News on Tuesday. “It was just a joke at an auction that we had to raise money for the kids, right? And that’s all it was. There was nothing wrong with it, nothing wrong. “It was just a joke they were making up on stage and we just kept going with a joke.”
However, he said that it is a Donald Trump supporter and he has not been interested in Swift’s support of Harris.
“Yes, you can connect the dots there,” Estes said.
Auctioneer Craig Meier, a spokesman for the event, told USA Today that he has been embarrassed by the online reaction.
“I have been surprised by the importance that people are implying. “I didn’t mean to be mean or malicious,” he said in a statement. “He was simply making a light-hearted statement showing his disapproval of people in the entertainment industry trying to influence politics…. It was a funny thing that happened at our annual event. “The crowd thought it was very funny.”
Swift fans, however, don’t seem to agree.
“These old guys sure are setting an amazing example for their kids,” one fan commented on Cobb’s video. “Desecrating the value of a woman. Their wives must be very proud.”
“A group of old men mock an accomplished young woman, compensating for her inadequacy,” wrote another.
Swift fans, however, might have the last laugh at the saga: Although initial reports said the guitar was signed by Swift, sources close to her merchandising company told Variety about the instrument. It didn’t have his signaturenor was it ever used by her.
It seems that the guitar is once again at auctionbut this time on eBay. One listing shows a guitar covered in broken holes and promises that all profits will go to helping local children participate in agricultural education programs. At the time of this publication, bids for the destroyed guitar reached $4,400.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
