Experts: Taylor Swift Might Sue Trump Over Fake Endorsement Claims

Taylor Swift could potentially sue former President Donald Trump for using her image falsely to suggest her endorsement. Legal experts mentioned to Salon that this issue brings up concerns about free speech and Trump’s known tendency for exaggeration.

On Monday, Trump posted on his social media network images that included women wearing “Swifties for Trump” t-shirts and an AI-generated picture of Swift stating, “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” Trump captioned, “I accept!”

Jessica Litman, a law professor at the University of Michigan, stated that Swift could make a false endorsement claim under the Lanham Trademark Act or a right of publicity claim for using her name and likeness without permission under state law.

“Filing a suit might not be very beneficial,” Litman noted. “The media has already clarified that Swift did not endorse Trump, and it appears that no one else took the endorsement seriously.”

Litman mentioned that Trump would likely claim his post was protected by the First Amendment as political speech, a defense he’s known to use. She suggested there’s a strong possibility a court might agree with that argument.

Stanford Law School professor Mark Lemley finds the issue straightforward, asserting that Swift could easily win a right of publicity case.

“While the First Amendment generally allows politicians to make false statements, courts are much stricter when intellectual property rights come into play,” Lemley said. “These posts were clearly designed to misinform people about Swift’s endorsement of Trump, which is why we have restrictions on the use of someone’s name and likeness.”

Harvard Law School professor Rebecca Tushnet noted that Tennessee law offers extensive protection against unauthorized use of images like this.

“There’s a debate about whether the political context would give Trump free speech rights,” Tushnet explained. “It’s uncertain if it would apply here, especially because Trump is often not taken seriously. If he isn’t fooling anyone, the deepfakes don’t cause harm in the same way.”

According to Tushnet, Tennessee’s law might be “too broad.” Nevertheless, she acknowledged that Trump’s free speech rights could potentially outweigh Swift’s claim over the false endorsement.

She raised the possibility of Trump arguing that his post was akin to a political cartoon.

“We generally know what we find objectionable, but defining violations in the context of political expression can be challenging,” Tushnet elaborated. “If nobody believes the image represents a fact, is there a difference between this and a political cartoon?”

Tushnet noted that false endorsement cases involving politicians have typically included the use of a musician’s actual song.

“If Don Henley’s song is in a political ad, people might think he endorses the politician,” Tushnet said. “In this instance, it’s not really Taylor Swift, unlike playing a Don Henley song.”

Swift hasn’t clearly taken a side for the 2024 presidential race, nor did she endorse any candidate in the 2016 election.

Back in 2012, Trump expressed gratitude towards Swift for taking a photo with him, calling her “fantastic” and “terrific.”

During the 2016 election, doctored images of Swift sporting a MAGA hat circulated online.

In 2018, after Swift endorsed two Democratic candidates for the U.S. midterms, Trump remarked that he liked her music “about 25% less.”

Swift has spoken about becoming more politically vocal, as seen in her January 2020 documentary, Miss Americana.

She endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020.

In May 2020, Swift criticized Trump on Twitter, accusing him of racist rhetoric and threatening violence. She tweeted, “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November.”

In August of that year, she tweeted again, condemning Trump’s actions: “Trump’s calculated dismantling of USPS proves one thing clearly: He is WELL AWARE that we do not want him as our president. He’s chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power.”

Source: Salon