Taylor Swift reportedly fired close friend and backup dancer due to sexist Instagram posts
Taylor Swift happens to be one of the most successful musicians of her time. The 28-year-old is currently doing the circuit for her Reputation tour, and you can’t say she hasn’t worked hard to achieve her level of fame and success.
But the songstress isn’t just known for her musical achievements, but also her infamous feuds. She’s had tiffs with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, as well as with Katy Perry, who recently extended a literal olive branch to Taylor as a final peace offering.
While we may joke about how trivial some of her spats seem, and roll our eyes at the dedicated jabs she’s made at some of her exes in full-blown songs about them, this one disagreement she’s had with a backup dancer was very much called for indeed.
It has just been revealed that Taylor fired one of her backup dancers – who also happens to be a long-time friend – after he posted a series of sexist and offensive images on Instagram. His name is Toshi, and she hired him four years ago to dance on stage for her 1989 tour.
But now, the singer is reportedly “livid” with Toshi, after discovering the disturbing images and “memes” he posted shortly before making his Instagram private.
The images contained “jokes” about a woman’s place being in “the kitchen” as well as several posts about sexual assault including rape.
A source told the Daily Mail that although Toshi was one of her “closest friends”, she could under no circumstances tolerate such misogynistic behavior especially because of the huge fanbase she has a strong influence over.
"She has considered him one of her closest friends on the road after recruiting him for her 1989 tour back in 2014," the source said. “But she simply cannot endorse this behavior and to do so would be setting a bad example to her fans."
It was absolutely the right thing for the singer to do, and must have been extremely disappointing for Taylor to learn of his support for such “jokes” considering she had trusted and worked with this man for several years.
What’s worse is that she has personally helped the backup dancer and his family in times of need, having donated $50,000 to Toshi’s nephew a few years ago after his family set up a GoFundMe page when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Taylor's fans were equally as distressed to learn of the things Toshi had posted on Instagram, with some of them saying that they are victims of sexual assault themselves.
No official confirmation from Taylor or Toshi about that claims that she fired him over the posts have been made, though fans have noted that the backup dancer has not been seen in any shows or behind-the-scenes videos from other dancers in the past few days.