Taylor Swift asked her fans not to cyberbully her ex-boyfriend John Mayer ahead of the re-release of “Speak Now,” the album she first put out in 2010 after the former couple’s breakup.
“I get to stand on this stage every single night of this tour and watch some of the most beautiful things happen,” Swift told her audience at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday night during her blockbuster Eras Tour.
“I watch you guys make friends with each other. I watch you bond. I watch you give each other friendship bracelets,”
“I see so many beautiful interactions happen, and I hear so many stories about friends that were made at these shows, and I watch it happen, and it’s the most unbelievable thing to watch.”
The “All Too Well” singer then requested that her passionate fan base extend “that kindness and that gentleness” on the internet when she releases “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” on July 7.
“I’m 33 years old. I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19,” she shared. “I’m not putting this album out so that you can go and should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 billion years ago.”
While Swift did not name Mayer during her speech, she followed it up with her first performance of “Dear John” in 11 years as part of the “surprise songs” segment of her show.
The nearly seven-minute ballad is widely believed to be about Mayer, as it tells the story of a teenage girl’s relationship with an older man. (The exes had a 12-year age difference.)
“Don’t you think I was too young to be messed with?” Swift sings during the chorus.
The “Anti-Hero” songstress has never confirmed that the “Gravity” crooner, now 45, was her muse for the track, but he was quick to pick up on the clues.
Mayer told Rolling Stone in a 2012 interview that he was “really caught off-guard” and “really humiliated” when he heard “Dear John” for the first time.
“I didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that,” he added. “It was a really lousy thing for her to do.”
One year later, the guitarist released a response song titled “Paper Doll,” which references the lyrics to “Dear John.”
💜| Taylor urging fans tonight to be kind and gentle online when Speak Now comes out as she doesn't care what happened when she was 19 yo, she only cares about the music she wrote and the fact that she gets to own it now pic.twitter.com/KZrKNp0vfw
— Taylor Swift Updates 🏟️ (@swifferupdates) June 25, 2023
Taylor Swift asks fans not to cyberbully ex John Mayer during rare ‘Dear John’ performance. Taylor Swift asks fans not to cyberbully ex John Mayer during rare ‘Dear John’ performance