Ken Bruce, 73, has come under fire from fans of global singing superstar Taylor Swift this week after revealing why he won’t play her songs on the air.
The former BBC Radio 2 presenter, who has now found a new home on Greatest Hits Radio, claimed the 34-year-old’s songs all “sound the same” and are about “her ex-boyfriends”.
Swift has recently been in the UK as part of the European leg of her Eras Tour, a tour that stands to gross north of $1billion.
She’ll return to Wembley Stadium again in August but despite thousands packing out stadiums each night, Bruce isn’t convinced.
He told the Mail on Sunday: “All her songs are the same. I’ll play her on my station when she writes something that isn’t about her ex-boyfriends.
“Great radio songs have three beats and then they’re straight into the song, not these long intros that she does.
Ken Bruce recently won big at this year’s TRIC Awards
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“We’re a 70s, 80s and 90s radio show as our core audience is older.”
Inevitably, Bruce’s comments were soon picked up and shared across social media, with several of Swift’s fans leaping to her defence.
Bruce’s stance has been accused of “reeking of misogyny” by a columnist in the i newspaper while so-called Swifties online have similarly unleashed their scathing takes on the remarks.
“And this is why we don’t listen, because the station is boring and reeks of misogyny,” one furious X user penned in response to the article.
A second targeted Bruce’s radio station directly: “@greatesthitsuk really disappointed to read this article. saying something so misogynistic so publicly is simply unacceptable.
“Not to mention the fact it’s just simply untrue. It’s clear he has never actually listened to taylor swift. 2014 called and it wants its joke back.”
A third similarly critiqued: “Tell me you’ve never actually given her music a chance without telling me.
“Men are so quick to parrot that talking point. News flash, men write about their relationships just as much. Grow up.”
“Leave it to an old white man to be completely out of touch….. shocker,” a fourth surmised.
While a fifth similarly defended the singer: “Why does a man who clearly doesn’t know about greatest hits insist that she hasn’t released songs that aren’t about her exes?! Listen to shake it off, bad blood, etc. and you’ll see that…clearly he doesn’t know anything about music and should be fired.” (sic)
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has attracted hundreds of thousands of fans in the UK alone
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Bruce – who recently won big at this year’s TRIC Awards – hasn’t publicly responded to any of the furore online via his X account, recently using his platform to promote new episodes of his Popmaster TV show.
On the other hand, Swift similarly appears to have ignored the row that erupted following Bruce’s remarks.
She did take to her Instagram page earlier this week, however, to applaud the Dublin crowds who turned out to see her perform in the Irish capital.
“I knew as soon as I saw the first Dublin crowd on Friday night that we were in for a wild weekend… the spirit of those 3 glorious crowds embodied fun and joy and exuberance, and we just felt so lucky to be there,” she penned.
“The Irish fans made us feel so at home, so welcome in every way. Still smiling thinking about it now. See you soon, Amsterdam!!”
