Earlier this week, a video clip went viral of a man who spent $4,000 at a charity auction for what has been reported as a signed Taylor Swift guitar only to smash it up with a hammer. The post on X had been viewed 23 million times as of Wednesday afternoon.
Contrary to media reports, however, it turns out that the guitar wasn’t signed by the singer and wasn’t certified as official by her camp or her merchandise company. The video shows a white-haired man, Gary Estes, shuffling up to the front of a stage at a charity auction before smashing it up with a hammer to the cheers of the audience in attendance. Swift came under fire from Donald Trump supporters after endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris following last month’s presidential debate.
Estes later told NBC News: “There was nothing malicious or anything about it. It was just a joke at an auction that we had to raise money for kids, right? And that’s all it was. There was nothing mean about it, nothing bad about it.”
The since-shattered instrument is up for auction again on eBay after Estes donated it back to the youth charity just moments after he destroyed it. The listing describes the guitar as being autographed by Swift and comes complete with a “certificate of authenticity,” which sources have since said is not authentic.
