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"Welcome to New York", Taylor Swift says. But has New York "welcomed" her? Swift's new song about NYC—from her album 1989—has apparently caused some hate. A new mural unveiled on the Lower East Side reads "R.I.P Taylor Swift".
Painted by Antonio "Chico" Garcia, the mural was commissioned by the owners of LES vintage clothing store La Petite Mort, Osvaldo Jimenez and Kara Mullins, in response to Taylor Swift's recent appointment as New York City's "global welcome ambassador." It's possible they were just hiding their secret love for her new album, like all the characters from last week's SNL skit, Swiftamine.
But Mullins and Jimenez, in an Instagram post littered with hashtags (above), explained: "We here at LP have nothing but love for Taylor Swift. Rather our comment is on the whitewashing and gentrification of New York." They continue: "While Taylor Swift is alive and well, and we wish her no harm, she did kill off yet another piece of that broken New York spirit. The idea of her being our spokesperson is DEAD and we expressed that through a ny artist."
Yowza.