Your support helps us to tell the story
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
The Texas man who smashed up a supposedly “signed” Taylor Swift guitar after paying thousands for it at auction has spoken out.
In footage that went viral this week, a man identified by US media as Gary Estes, 67, was seen approaching the stage where a member of auction staff was waiting with the instrument, which was covered in images of Swift from her record-breaking Eras Tour.
He then proceeded to take the guitar, which he had bid $4,000 for, and smash the surface of the instrument with a hammer to the sound of cheers from the audience.
The event, which took place in Ellis County, Texas, was a fundraiser set up to support agricultural education for local youth. The guitar, which came with a “certificate of authenticity”, was one of a number of items being auctioned along with tickets to see artists including Chris Stapleton and George Strait, and a trip to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
Speaking to NBC News on Tuesday (1 October), Estes said there was “nothing malicious” about the stunt and he had intended it as “a joke”, while also confirming that he is a Trump supporter.
“It was just a joke at an auction that we had to raise money for kids, right?” he said. “And that’s all it was. There was nothing mean about it, nothing bad about it. It was just a joke that they were making up on the stage, and we just followed through with a joke.”
Auctioneer Craig Meier, a spokesperson for the event, initially backed Estes’s remarks: “It was a funny, light-hearted thing,” he said. “I know maybe it seemed to be malicious, but everybody was laughing. There were people there [who] joked around that he’s mad because he doesn’t know how to play the guitar.”
However, Meier told the news website that, after speaking with Estes, he believed it was an obvious political statement.
“Taylor Swift, it became a political thing, and that was kind of the gist of it, just a light-hearted bit of a dig at Taylor for coming out politically and entertainers using their influence to influence politics,” he said.
In September, Swift shared a lengthy endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, while taking an apparent swipe at Republican candidate Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, over his notorious “childless cat lady” comments.
A few days after Swift’s post, Trump tweeted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” in an all-caps message from his Truth Social account.
In her endorsement, Swift said that fake AI-generated images suggesting she was endorsing Trump, which were shared by the former president, had influenced her decision to speak out.
“Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site,” she wrote.
“It really conjured up my fears around AI and the dangers of spreading misinformation.
“It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth”.
Estes told NBC that he is a Trump supporter and had been displeased by Swift’s endorsement of Harris: “Yes, you can connect the dots there,” he said.
Since the incident, questions have arisen regarding the guitar’s authenticity. Despite the supposed certificate, sources close to Swift’s merch company confirmed to Variety that the instrument was not signed by Swift.
TMZ reports that the guitar is now being listed on eBay for a starting bid of $100 (£75), with sale proceeds going towards the same cause of supporting agricultural education for local youth.
