This father is not for the Taylor Swift hatred at all. Robert People, a retired military journalist, author, and father in Florida took to TikTok to weigh in on the load of criticism the "Cruel Summer" singer has faced.
The video, which has garnered more than 1 million views, makes a point that other young girls are paying attention to how people — men in particular — are speaking negatively about Taylor. "Taylor Swift won’t see it, but your daughters will. Do better," he captioned the post, adding hashtags #taylorswift #nfl #traviskelce #girls #men #hate #chiefs #embarrassing #robertpeople #authorrobertpeople #silly #jealousy
“For those of you people out there, especially grown men, expressing all this nasty, ridiculous hate for Taylor Swift just for existing and supporting her boyfriend in the NFL, keep in mind, Taylor Swift’s not gonna see or hear any of that," he said. "But you know who will? Your daughters.”
"And with all this juvenile hate you’re showing Taylor Swift for simply being there, you’re encouraging your daughters to shrink themselves, reduce who they are," he continued. "Because if they do anything more than that, if they just decide to be themselves, they’re gonna get a whole lot of hate from not only the world but from people just like you: their own parents. We need to do better, straight up.”
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Other people weighed in on the message in the comment section.
"Taylor Swift hate is just targeted misogyny poorly disguised as pop culture critique," one person wrote.
"You made this grown woman cry, sir! " commented another. "Thank you for this, the world needs more humans like you in it."
Robert opened up further in an interview with TODAY.com. He expressed that he takes into consideration how his own 16-year-old daughter takes the negativity that she hears about the pop star.
"My daughter watches football with me and pays attention to everything I do," he said. He added that when girls hear complaints about Taylor attending a football game, what they actually might hear is, "Everything that Taylor Swift is, I can't be."
He continued on to express that when Taylor gets criticized, it can be discouraging for young girls who love sports. Robert says that the girls may then start to wonder "Do I really belong here?" in regards to being in male-centric spaces.
"It's wrong to treat anyone this way," he says. "If you don't know much about her, then don't say anything. She's a human being and people reduce her humanity." And he wants his daughter to have more role models like the singer.
Of course, not everybody agreed with Robert's take, with one person asking, "What does that have to do with men, mostly men being nasty and foul and threatening … toward Taylor Swift when they're watching football?" Robert responded, "Young boys are going to hear how you address these women celebrities and they're going to say, 'Oh, my dad is doing it … that's how I should go about my business.'"
