A Detroit radio station is being lambasted online for duping an entire crowd with a Taylor Swift impersonator at its annual holiday concert.
On Tuesday (5 December), the city’s local iHeartRadio Channel 99.5 held its 2023 Jingle Ball Presented by Capital One concert, with headliners including Usher and Jelly Roll.
At one point, the host came out to announce the next act, teasing that the artist is “arguably having the best year of anyone ever”.
“Earlier this year, she came to our city,” he can be heard saying in TikTok videos posted by attendees. “Is anyone familiar with a song called ’Cruel Summer?’ Does anyone know a song called ‘Karma’?
“In her Jingle Ball era, make some noise for Trailor Swift!”
The crowd can be heard going crazy, with one concertgoer shouting: “No f***ing way!” as a woman carrying a guitar and dressed in a silver flapper dress walks out on stage.
“Trailor Swift & Corey Dakota,” reads the jumbotron above the stage.
The impersonator, who was later identified by The Messenger as the station’s producer, Kristin Penrose, begins to sing an off-key version of Swift’s classic 2008 song “Fearless”.
Fans in the crowd immediately go quiet as reality settles in. Several people let out devastated, “Oh my God” and “What the f***’s”.
“Hold on, hold on, we gotta start this thing over. I’m not hitting it like that. Corey, let’s do it one more time,” Penrose tells her guitarist.
According to local news outlet MLive, it was all a publicity stunt by the radio station to promote its giveaway of tickets to Swift’s 2024 Eras Tour in Indianapolis.
This week, Swift was named Time magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year. The honour comes on the heels of a whirlwind of a year for the 33-year-old “Anti-Hero” pop star, whose Eras Tour dominated ticket sales.
She was selected among a strong list of contenders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, King Charles III, the live-action Barbie movie, and Vladimir Putin.
“This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been,” Swift told Time. “Ultimately, we can convolute it all we want, or try to overcomplicate it, but there’s only one question... Are you not entertained?”
