The country music legend Toby Keith passed away on Monday night at the age of 62 following a lengthy battle with stomach cancer. We then reported on how Keith had previously helped kickstart the career of Taylor Swift in a big way. In the wake of Keith’s death, however, Swift has stayed silent and declined to publicly pay tribute to him.
Now, the country music star John Rich is calling her out for this in a big way.
Rich Calls Out Swift
Newsweek reported that Rich took to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to respond to journalist Matt Couch after he shared a 2005 video in which Swift gushed over Keith following him signing her to his label.
“Going to be interesting to see what she says about Toby Keith,” Couch wrote. “Without Toby Keith there wouldn’t be a Taylor Swift.. Toby signed her to his record label and gave her, her start.. Hope she recognizes that today.. like she should..”
Rich responded by questioning why Swift would stay silent about the death of a man who had helped her career so much.
“When is@taylorswift13 going to share some words about Toby Keith? The man who discovered her, got her the 1st record deal? Taylor, where are you today? #TobyKeith,” Rich wrote.
Daily Mail reported that in the video shared by Couch, a 15 year-old Swift praised Keith after he signed her to his record label, as he was a major stakeholder in Big Machine Records at the time.
“You’re in the room and you can feel it. There’s a power there,” Swift stated in the footage. “And you’re just like ‘oh my god.’ So I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where I won’t see him and be like: ‘oh my god, that’s Toby Keith.’”
Backstory: Here’s How Toby Keith Helped Kickstart The Careers Of Taylor Swift And Blake Shelton
Keith Performed At Trump Inauguration
Of course, this was years before Swift became a radical liberal who enjoys constantly preaching about leftwing politics to her adoring fans. Perhaps her silence about Keith’s death could be over him defying the left to perform at the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump.
“I don’t apologize for performing for our country or military,” Keith said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly at the time. “I performed at events for previous presidents [George W.] Bush and [Barack] Obama and over 200 shows in Iraq and Afghanistan for the USO.”
In 2017, Keith defended Trump after his infamous “grab ’em by the p****” comment, pointing out that “Guys talk like that everywhere.”
“Bill Clinton, everyone was on him about getting a BJ,” Keith said, according to Newsweek. “I was like, ‘It doesn’t affect the way he’s running the country.”
Keith went on to be awarded the National Medal of Arts by Trump.
Swift’s Politics
In contrast, Swift has frequently used her platform to bash Trump, and she campaigned hard for Joe Biden in 2020. That year, Swift accused Trump of “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism” in response to comments he made condemning the violence that spread throughout the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
“After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence?” she wrote on social media at the time, according to The Mail. “When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November. @realdonaldtrump.”
Related: Megyn Kelly Reveals Why Taylor Swift Would Be Crazy To Endorse Biden – ‘If She’s Smart…’
Swift would not be where she is today if it were not for Keith, so her silence on his death is nothing short of deafening. While there is no confirmation that politics is what led Swift to stay silent on his passing, it would unfortunately not be surprising if this were to be the case.
