Taylor Swift may have an album called Speak Now, but she deliberately took her time to issue a statement after the discovery of a planned terrorist attack led to the cancellation of her Eras Tour shows in Vienna, Austria earlier this month.
In an Instagram post Wednesday, Swift had some pointed words for those who criticized her for not commenting on the foiled attack until now, just under two weeks after the planned August 8-10 shows.
“Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows,” she captioned a carousel of images marking the completion of the European leg of her record-breaking tour. “In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that.”
Last week, Austrian authorities announced that three young men had been arrested in connection with the planned attack. They said the suspects had declared their allegiance to the Islamic state, and that the supplies and plans they discovered pointed to the makings of “a bloodbath” at Swift’s shows.
Elsewhere in her lengthy caption, Swift called her shows at London’s Wembley Stadium, her second spin at the venue and her first concerts since the Vienna cancellations, “a rollercoaster of emotions.”
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“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” she wrote. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.”
Swift’s Eras Tour resumes October 18 in Miami, with an announced end date of December 8 in Vancouver, Canada, ending the roughly year-and-a-half run of shows. Though the singer has not commented on this year’s presidential election, her endorsement has been coveted on both sides of the aisle, with reports as far back as July of Democrats yearning for her support and Donald Trump earlier this week posting digitally altered images, including one clearly labeled “satire,” that seemed to show Swift endorsing him to social media, writing “I accept!” Polls have shown that an endorsement by Swift could sway voter opinion, and a “Swifties for Kamala” political action group, unaffiliated with the singer, mobilized shortly after Kamala Harris was announced as the Democratic nominee for the presidency.
An endorsement from Swift wouldn’t be unprecedented: In 2020, she criticized Trump and endorsed Joe Biden ahead of the election.
Notably, the gap in Swift’s public schedule would allow for her to get to Chicago, should a Democratic National Convention surprise be in the works, and she doesn’t have a show scheduled for Election Day in November.
Representatives for Taylor Swift did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.
