Gayle has some thoughts on Ticketmaster’s Eras tour disaster.
Last week’s ticket-selling fiasco was still top of mind when the “abcdefu” singer hit the red carpet at the American Music Awards on Sunday and was peppered with questions about Taylor Swift’s record-breaking tour — and the frustrating ticket-buying process that quickly became its hallmark.
“I don’t even have a ticket, they’re just letting me on the stage,” Gayle quipped in an interview with Fox News Digital, appearing to make light of the “several bear attacks,” which was how Swift characterized her fans’ purchasing experience over the last few weeks.
Gayle is among the five opening acts with which the “Anti-Hero” and “Lavender Haze” singer has teamed for the Eras tour, which begins in March.
When she was asked by Entertainment Tonight what she would say to disappointed Swifties who couldn’t secure tickets due to “unprecedented demand” for the shows, Gayle replied: “I love you and thank you for possibly being a fan of me.”
“And hopefully, you can watch over the internet,” she added.
Ticketmaster preemptively canceled the public on-sale for the stadium tour “due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.” A day later — and amid investigations of the ticket seller’s Live Nation conglomerate — Swift said that 2.4 million people got tickets to the twice-expanded tour and shared her disappointment about the “excruciating” experience her fans endured to score tickets.
Swift hired the self-proclaimed Swiftie shortly after they met and were both honored at the NSAI Awards in September. That’s when the 18-year-old was being recognized by the songwriting organization’s 10 Songs I Wish I’d Written category and Swift was being honored as the songwriter-artist of the decade. Swift saw her play and things snowballed after that.
The two met again at the MTV Europe Music Awards earlier this month for the first time since Gayle was announced as part of the Eras tour.
“I got to congratulate her on winning all of these incredible awards,” Gayle told ET. “She’s got to win so many awards tonight [at the American Music Awards], which I’m so excited to see... I never actually got to, in person, personally, thank her for putting me on the tour.”
Swift won six awards Sunday night at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles, breaking her own record for most wins with a new a total of 40.
“The last thing she said to me, the first time we met, was, ‘I’ll see you again,’” Gayle said. “And then the first thing she said to me was, ‘I told you I’d see you again!’”
And again and again they did. The two were photographed posing together with singer Sabrina Carpenter (who presented with Swift during Sunday’s American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in L.A.), which she gushed about on Instagram Stories shortly afterward.
———
