we NEED to talk about the "invasive and UNTRUE" gaylor article 

hey guys I want to point out that Chely Wright is ALIVE! it was my mistake to say that she actually went through with k wording herself, but the article really positioned her journey in this way. nevertheless, I could've looked that up. however, it was really immaterial to the rest of the critiques I delivered here, so in my opinion one mistake (that I am correcting here) does not invalidate an entire criticism....but you all know that. it's the conspiracy theorists who don't. anyway love you guys hope you enjoyed, back to non-insane content on sunday x

“You Need to Calm Down could ONLY have been written by a straight person” SOO REAL😭😭

The argument that having Taylor come out would solve homophobia is so insane and disconnected from reality its hard to even fathom how someone would believe that.

It is so inappropriate for a large publication to be speculating on ANYONE’S sexuality. Truly gross and embarrassing they let this go out into the world… and not even well written ramblings. Thank you for calling this out! Fantastic as always.

Arguing that she should be placed under a conservativeship is so disgusting after what happened with Britney

Dude, if the wlw community finds comfort or meaning in Tay’s music, cool. She’s repeatedly said that once she releases it, it becomes ours to do with and feel with and connect with as we will. They become our wedding songs and our ‘our song’s and songs that remind us of _that_ person. If a song speaks to you as a gay lady, it’s because she’s a talented writer who writes enormously relatable songs. If she _IS_ gay, what then? You’re trying to out her? If you _DO_ out her, what then? Do you date Taylor Swift? No. Knock it off.

“Knowing full well that we may never know”… we do know though. She’s said it. It is so weird that a writer for the New York Times decided we will never get an answer if we don’t get the one she wants.

"Daylight could be about Taylor coming out as a furry" honestly there's about as much evidence for that as there is for Gaylor. CATS? Hellooo

People need to admit to themselves that kiki'ing about celebrities is just a form of playing with dolls. You make up a scenario, project your imagination and assumptions onto it, cast your own villains etc. This can be harmless in moderation, but that's what it is and we need to be calling it that.

imo if the 1989 tv foreword didn't shut down gaylor conspiracies, i'm afraid nothing will 🙃

This article is like the “writer” took every theory on TikTok, put it in a blender, and this came out.

HAHAHA I WENT ON THE GAYLOR SUBREDDIT AND ONE OF THEM POSTED YOUR VIDEO AND ALL THE REPLIES ARE CALLING YOU A BULLY! good job doing what you do best, making delusional people mad, sad, and even more delusional!! love u zack

As a librarian, I commend you for your work with increasing media literacy when it relates to pop culture content. This is an emerging issue librarians deal with for all demographics. A thorough breakdown of how to recognize conspiracy theories and non-fact based journalism is so needed on this platform.

Why can’t we just enjoy her music? Her deeply personal songwriting, her musical talent, her incredible contribution to music. No, we have to make everything about sexuality.

That non-falsifiable logic of “I won’t believe they’re not until she says it in my desired perfect phrasing” but also if they ever do say it that way they’re probably lying or saying it against their will” is just exhausting and every high school kid trying to blend in until they’re ready on their own terms worst nightmare. We have seen this with every major teen focused celebrity in the last decade with disastrous results for the subject(s) every time. Analyze and interpret art through the lenses that resonate with you but good lord you can do that with both feet firmly rooted in reality, it doesn’t have to be like this.

Me, who is GAY this is very wrong and very unfortunate that in 2024 people are putting people let alone speculating one's sexuality be it someone who is a common person or a celebrity it's wrong and very unfortunate and should be stopped this shit can affect someone's mental health. God WTF!

An entire Video of Zack debunking the Gaylor theory ????? Girl i am Seated!!!

it's pushing your own headcanons and expectations onto a real human being who actively did not consent for this. literal wish fulfillment. insane that it's so mainstream

i wanna bring up the kit connor situation, which was truly heartbreaking to see. clearly he wasn’t ready at all to be outed and yet the “fans” would stop at nothing. they claimed he was queerbaiting for fucks sake. and it’s like… for what?? what makes anyone think that coming out before they’re ready solves anything?? hope he’s doing okay now, but that’s a more recent example of how incessant speculation on someone’s sexuality can do harm on that celebrity.

gaylors and larries are the most annoying part of fandoms like imagine being a larrie and gaylor in 2023…

It’s so crazy how they simultaneously claiming Taylor doesn’t want anyone to know she’s gay while also saying she’s compulsively and constantly trying to tell everyone she’s gay.

Idk why people think that just because they can relate to lyrics/poetry in a different way means that the author of the art must be in the same space. Art is interesting and beautiful because people can have a different interpretation based on their experience or the time period we are reading it from and hindsight even if the author wasn’t creating from that same space. I can relate to “all too well” even though I’ve never dated with a significant age gap because of the overall theme/sentiment. Doesn’t mean I think TS didn’t actually date someone older than her.

This is a new low for NYT. Good luck ever getting an interview from Taylor now after essentially calling her a liar and platforming conspiracies about her sexuality when she has very recently said that gaylors make her uncomfortable and put a strain on her female friendships.

“Anyone who claims to be able to speak on behalf of an entire group of people is arrogant and best and ignorant at worst.” THIS!!!!!!!

My perspective with Gaylor has always been, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s gay, but I take her word at face value” which, I might add, is how I view everyone’s sexual orientation. Mostly because I don’t assume if someone is gay, straight, bi, asexual, or whichever. I’m not surprised with anything people come out as because I’m not sitting here speculating … but I’ll take what you say at face value because you know yourself. If you’re closeted, I’ll take it as face value still because how rude to out people

My 2 cents as a lesbian: 1- Taylor has REPEATEDLY called herself an ally. I will believe she is one, unless SHE ever says otherwise. 2. Even if you think Taylor (or anyone) seems like they are gay and aren't coming out for whatever reason, trying to force them out is disgusting. I've had people talk about my sexuality behind my back before I was open. It made me feel terrible. Gaylors need to realize you are causing people real pain and anxiety when you do this. 3. Artists have realized that the lgbt community is another fanbase they can tap into. I definitely think people like Taylor/Harry Styles/Olivia Rodrigo show their support for the community and people use this as an excuse to read into it and claim they're gay. But when you think about it, Britney Spears and Cher have also been seen as "gay icons" when neither are gay. Showing love for a community doesn't automatically mean you are in that community. Thank you for always calling this BS out, Zac!

Personally, I don’t even see why it matters. Why does everyone obsess over other people’s sexuality? If Taylor were in fact gay what would that change? I’d still love her, I’m sure every other swiftie will continue to listen to her. Like why are we speculating on something that’s not important? I’m not trying to say that like gay people don’t matter or anything, that’s not the intention. I just think there’s this weird obsession with gayness coming from those who aren’t gay.

Few things are as demeaning and defeating as answering a question and being told "So we may never know" because you aren't believed unless you give the desired answer. This boils my blood, honestly.

It's so funny to me how this nonsense of every celebrity being secretly gay (like Taylor, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, Camila Cabello and Lauren Jauregui, Shawn Mendes, etc) only started around 10 years ago and the only argument these unhinged conspiracy theorists make is that their labels force them to stay in the closet because coming out will destroy their careers. In fact, they have it completely the other way around: now more than ever celebs can come out and still be very successful! Look at Halsey, Sam Smith, Troye Sivan, Lil Nas X, they are all super successful and openly LGBT.

As a bisexual woman who still struggles with her sexuality even after coming out at 18 and now 26, the Gaylor CT deeply disturbs me. This article is disgusting and kinda a hit piece tbh.

Are we now bullying people out of the closet? What kind of response from Taylor would satisfy these people? It would never end, even if she retracted what she has said all along and aligned herself with the theories.

THE GAYLORS IN THE COMMENTS ARE GOING CRAZY😭

A huge round of applause for this. Brave, brash, bold and so brilliantly you. A video like this is what makes your channel, YOUR channel. Thank you for keeping me SANE!

This is insanity, quoting Taylor saying she isn’t a part of the community only to follow up basically saying you don’t have to believe her words…

I think this goes way beyond Taylor. Yes it is so disrespectful to her but she will be fine. But what are the conclusions that people are drawing from this? That it is okay to speculate about other peoples sexual / gender identity? Or to forcefully "out" someone who is maybe not ready? Or just wants to keep some aspects of themselves private? This is insane to me.

They want her to react so they can get a juicy story about her “over reaction”. It’s sickening.

So embarassing for everyone involved.

The fact that Taylor explicitly said that she didn’t like when she was speculated to be dating her female friends and yet this person STILL wrote an article about it is truly gross.

To everyone saying the song seven proves she's gay since she wrote it and it gives gay vibes, I hope u also believe that she's an alcoholic (this is me trying), a 15 year old boy (Betty), and a soldier (epiphany). At least be consistent in your delusion

Im genuinely bamboozled that any publication let alone NYT would read this article and think it was ok to post

As someone who lives in Ukraine and felt my blood boil over NYT's coverage of the Russian invasion, at least they are consistent in their incompetence. The fact that they are considered a quality media makes me question, like, a lot of things. P.S. I didn't know they attacked Ronan's mother, good Lord. P.P.S. I love Me! but I also love how you never pass on an opportunity to shame that poor song😂

“This is Taylor coming out as a FURRY!” …. I love his ability to be so seriously sarcastic like this, say an amazing thing and just keep right on rolling with his points. No pause. Love you

The danger of doubling down on the closeted history theory is that even if Taylor was to make a post tomorrow denouncing all of this, the Gaylors will continue to insist it's her being closeted

We need an unhinged, deux moi response style tweet from Tree IMMEDIATELY.

New York Times is humiliating itself rn

i can’t imagine how frustrating this is for Taylor. I know she has gossip around her all the time but this must madden her because she just wants to be an ally and if she doubles down too much, she looks homophobic but if she is just herself they call her closeted. It’s sooo annoying

I used to think gaylors were a joke But this is getting out of hands now

You can also find so many of them online saying that if she doesn’t want them to speculate, she should just say so. Yet you know she won’t due to the immense backlash she would get. I think the Entertainment Tonight article released yesterday talking about how well things are going between her and Travis by a source close to her (read: Tree) is as close as we’ll probably get to a comment on this deranged article.

This response to that article is chef’s kiss. Swiftologist seriously should be writing the op-eds. So decisive, educational, and seriously on point.

I love how you said it can be arrogant speaking on behalf of a group of people as possibly arrogant. People of all kinds are individuals and if they want to speak their truth, they should feel safe to do so. We can't lump everyone of a sexually into a monolith and have the 'speaker/ ambassador' act as if everyone is programed the same.... we're all not. And overall, we need to respect Taylor and stand against this insane "The Earth is flat" theory about her. These crazy folks want her to be silently suffering, how sad. She's making the whole place shimmer and living her best pop queen life.

i, a lesbian, got told i “hate lesbians” because i said it is insane to call taylor swift a lesbian. i truly struggle to understand how exactly it is homophobic to respect another’s privacy and what they have publicly said. if taylor was gay (she isn’t) she most definitely would have come out by now. she would not “pretend” to be an ally for 17 - nearly 18 - years. it’s fucking insane

Once upon a time, there was a part of me that wondered if the gaylor theories might hold some weight - mainly before we knew hits different was about Joe. After the breakup though, and when taylor obviously continued to only date men, and especially made her feelings very clear with the 1989 TV prologue, I don't know how this conspiracy is still around at all, much less platformed by the NEW YORK TIMES.

so I think Anna must have read the 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo over the holiday break and came up with this piece thinking she was a genius.

„This is Taylor Swift coming out as a furry“ I screamed

thank you for speaking about this, I think it's awful that people are trying to force Taylor to come out when she's literally told us to stop accusing her of dating her friends. In my time on the internet, people have tried to do this to me as well. They insisted that I was a lesbian, and not bisexual (which is what I identify as), and that I must be faking my attraction to my boyfriend. I know firsthand that this speculation can be so anxiety inducing, and I can't imagine how sick it must make Taylor feel, on a much larger, and more serious scale. It means so much to me to hear someone call out these conspiracy theories for what they are, and I love your videos

I’m not sure ANYONE could have said this better. Thank you for your brilliant rebuttal of an embarrassing low from the NYT.

This is so scary like I’m really glad you’re talking about this. I saw that article and immediately thought wow I cannot imagine if I was closeted and someone wrote something like this about me 😳 also meth math SENT ME

I completely understand why you havent publicly commented/made a video on gaylors but admittedly im very happy we finally have a long form video of you concisely and eloquently shaming gaylor rhetoric and showing how insane it all is 💀 we need well-spoken veteran swifties to explain why this nonsense is so harmful thank you zack!

"lying is familiar to queers" is actually an awful thing to say

“where were you on january 6th?” i think you just predicted the future bc the way they were all ended today lfmao

When I went to journalism school I was taught not to speculate. This was a state university in Louisiana! Somehow the folks at NYT missed that memo. lol

omg, what I don't understand and never understand is how people DIRECTLY assume the 'meaning' of a rainbow. it is not always an LGBTQ+ representation, sometimes a rainbow is just a rainbow! Despite all the clever things you said, this one in particular I was stuck on; like 'she used a rainbow on her promotion of the album so she must be gay' like wtf? In where I like (Turkey) some radical conservative people tried to BAN the rainbow image on children's clothing, can you believe it? The world is just so stupid for smart people to stay sane....

And of course, he is being dragged rn by the community he is criticizing because of literally everything he just explained. Pretty good analysis of the article, I also agree that on the off chance that by some random curveball, if she is gay, this type of pressure isn’t going to make her feel any better or want to say anything.great video again!

Haven’t watched the video yet but at the end of the day my opinion is that even if there was any merit to the Gaylor’s theories, it’s disgustingly screwed up that “fans” would want to force her to come out. 😑

ppl saying taylor swift is gay is the same thing as gay guys saying shawn mendes is gay,wishful thinking and manifestation

gaylors are simply not taylor swift fans. only about halfway through this video but if there was so much evidence and her hinting at these things to us, her not telling us IF SHE WAS according to this article is implying that she is homophobic. you can either be openly gay, or a homophobe to these people and what does that say for you as fan if you believe so badly that she is homophobic? that youre not one, obviously. i feel this is poorly worded but I needed these thoughts to come out somehow.

I am so proud of you for taking this head on! 💪🏼💪🏼 your journalist chops are chopping!

I’m usually more in the John Green school of thought that once a work is published, it belongs to the reader and anyone else’s interpretation is as good as his. But what that would be in this situation is “x lyric reminds me of a lesbian love.” Not using vague clues to determine the author MUST be gay.

What baffles me so much about this is the fact that (as you said) most gay people do not want to open up about this until they are ready. No matter how many times I was pestered about my homosexuality, it not once made me feel better about myself. It made me feel like my sexuality was all people would ever consider when talking about me, especially since the people who asked clearly had no interest in my actual life.

I‘m only suprised (now at the end of this video) that no gaylor has said yet that she might be trans because of her song “The Man” 😂

when you open with "the failing new york times" like a god damn trump tweet you know you're about to hear some shit

Gaylors are the Qanon of the taylor swift fanbase

Whats so funny (not funny) is when taylor specifically says the words she is an ally they say shes lying. But when its misunderstood context they say its the truth. Like wut? Pls explain.

As someone that was coming to terms with her sexuality during the Speak Now era, I’ve always interpreted “Ours” as a wlw/first girl crush song. As a swiftie, there are many many songs from her that I interpret this way. This is MY interpretation coming solely from MY perspective as a bisexual woman. I have never concluded that Taylor must be secretly writing about a woman because I’m gay and so is she (she really isn’t she’s said plenty of times before). It astounds me that in 2024, we cannot value the basic, simple act of interpreting art for one self. Also media illiteracy is WILD & shame on NYT for showcasing conspiratorial, toxic nonsense.

I feel like there's a large amount of people these days who have no concept of being able to relate to experiences not their own, and thus have to dig for some connection between themselves and the artist or person or character in order to justify their enjoyment. They resonate so strongly with her songs, obviously Taylor MUST be gay! It can't be that some experiences are universal and that she's amazing at storytelling, no, she must be writing from MY perspective in order to make me relate! It's okay kids, you like a musical artist who is attracted to men, it isn't the end of the world.

I'm not even a swiftie but I love your passionate and critical discourse .It's so much needed. this is the right way to be a stan

giving a platform to gaylors on a major publication is insane behaviour. anyway, thanks to our commander in chief for debunking the conspiracy theorists!!!

I absolutely love listening to you speak. You are so well spoken and talented. Such a smart original swiftie!! Thank you!

I waited for this video since I saw the article, thank you for making these videos

Most people exist on some spectrum of sexuality so Taylor could be just like any normal person and have private thoughts/feelings but it is just not our business. Her relationships with men are not our business. Her friendships are not our business. Her family relationships are not our business. Yes, she's invited us in a bit through her words and especially when she was a bit messier with social media, but we are not in her life like that. It speaks to her skill as an artist that people with so many different life experiences can relate to her music and see themselves in it. But people need to realize that just because a lyric resonates with them does not mean Taylor felt the same thing when she wrote it. Friendship loss is a theme I see in a lot of her music. I also see a lot of other things we'll keep between me and my therapist in her music. But I am so clearly projecting my personal life experiences. I also really think her music is inspired by her life but is not strictly autobiographical, even when she says it is. I can see the plots of books, shows, and movies reflected in her songs. I think she uses those stories to flesh out her own. Like the song Right Where You Left Me clearly takes some inspiration from the story of Miss Havisham from Great Expectations but for me evokes some memories of friendships I've lost. We don't know entirely what inspired it and it is unknowable. Even the author doesn't always really know. That's the first thing a good teacher teaches you about interpreting art - there is not a "right" answer (although there are frequently very wrong answers). I have noticed people have a really hard time existing in that space of something being unknowable. I'm a scientist, so I get it. But also as a scientist I have to be comfortable with the inherent complexity of life and our inability to condense things down to a single process or cause.

I remember listening to a blind item podcast about taylor and the host and their guests where trying to justify discussing her sexuality by saying "well she encourages it" and continued to reference the secret messages she includes in the album lyrics omg I was enraged

I’m so excited for your Grammy videos this month! While I absolutely love your videos and commentary on Taylor, I think you do a fantastic job talking about other topics and artists as well! I loved your Britney Spears, Lorde, lana, etc videos.

Great video Zach. Super informative and i laughed out loud . Love your videos! ❤

the writer doesn't understand how songwriting works. As a songwriter myself I pull lyrics from various sources to complete a song. It's a mixture of real things in my life, or other people's stories, phrases I find in public that sound good, a dream, a TV show, etc, all mixed together to make the song. This lady is nuts! Also... "sewers of tumblr" is a great line

they are all so delusional and selfishly want to create their own narrative, that taylor could literally tell everyone that she's straight and they would still say that she's being pressured into saying that. the fact this made it to the new york times has made me lose the infinitesimal amount of respect i had for them - it's just straight-up embarrassing and an insult to actual journalists.

Wait, so if I don’t wear rainbow, does that mean I’m not gay ?!?!

As soon as I heard this article existed, I looked forward to your perspective and you did not disappoint. ❤

What I always find hilarious about Gaylors is that Taylor had always publicly dated men, and they still go and say what they say. Just imagine for a second if Taylor would openly date women, and people would go like gaylors do and say that it's a lie, that Taylor only does it for PR or whatever... the gaylors would RAGE about "OMG that's so homophobic look how she dates women, what more do you want?" it would be never ending. Truly insane people. It's scary, they are scary because they are INSANE. They use the most absurd and ridiculous claims as proof.

Happy to see a Chappell Roan mention! Would love to see a video on her new album if you ever felt up to it

missed you, Zack! thanks for talking about this, boots on the ground!

Chely Wright is alive and she worked with Taylor in 2006, pretty sure she was a friend of the swifts for years. They have an unreleased song together called thinking bout you. Maybe fact check before posting …

This is an important conversation! Thank you, Zach, for being brave and putting your neck out on the chopping board. Group think, conspiracy theories, and media illiteracy are all real risks to our society.

I used to work as a designer for a brand that made backpacks for little girls, I think I made them all bisexuals because all backpacks had rainbows, pink a sky blue, glitter and "pussy cats "🤣 This piece is nonsense, as you said numerous times, the aesthetics of the Lover era is more a Claire's photoshoot than a secret message about her sexuality.

Thank God you made this video. I’ve been half-considering using all of my Times contacts to get a rebuttal printed but frankly, I don’t have the time. But I co-sign this whole thing.

Didn’t Taylor just write about this in the prologue of 1989 TV, in which she called out all the Gaylors? I’ll never understand why they keep up with their delusion.

i just have to say this - the fact that you've been to the reputation secret sessions and are not a gaylor actually speaks volumes, because i've been lurking in their subreddits recently (i'm not a gaylor either, i'm just highly entertained by the unhinged bullshit they manage to come up with to prove their point) and it seems like rep's the one album they speculate the most about and cannot wrap their heads around it being about Joe. thank you for this video!

And here I thought K-Pop dating rumors were bad. This is just as bad, if not worse.

Why aren't them spending their energy supporting Rebel Wilson that since coming out as a lesbian have been pretty much dropped by the media? Remember when there was a new article everyday about how much weight she lost? Not anymore! Go give her your time and leave Taylor alone!

Never have I ever clicked faster

The "PROUD" bracelet in bisexual colors had me reconsidering gaylorism for a moment, when it came out. But all things considered... I mean, SHE SAID she doesn't want people discussing her identity like that, and honestly, who would? That bracelet looked bi, and as a bi woman I can see my bi experience in some of her work, but that doesn't make her bi - let alone lesbian. It just makes her a good writer, who writes higly relatable lyrics. Like, in my private universe Dress is gay af, because it reminds me of my first girlfriend. But every time you relate to lyrics you make it your own, reading your own experience in it. That's how that works.