Artist Anna Marie Tendler is facing backlash after posting and deleting a TikTok about Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour set design. Now, she claims the video was simply a joke that did not land well online.
“Uh, Taylor, my girl… This ‘Tolerate It’ setup looks strikingly like one of my photographs in tone and in aesthetics,” Tendler said in her video, which has since been removed and re-uploaded by fans.
“It doesn’t totally feel like parallel thinking to me. I’m a small artist, independent artist, who is trying to make money and live off of my artwork,” she continued, adding, “I don’t know what to do about this. Maybe somebody can help me.”
The re-uploaded video also shows a screenshot of Tendler’s “Dinner in December” photograph on sale for $5,000 as a “fine art print.”
See one of Tendler’s similar art pieces, below:
“Apparently, Taylor using a dining room set on tour is the reason she can’t sell her $5,000 art,” the TikTok user who re-uploaded the deleted video wrote in the caption.
“She said, ‘I own dining tables,'” another user commented.
“I’m crying it doesn’t even look the same. ‘Tolerate It’ literally has lyrics about setting the table. So she set the table in her show. Be [for real],” another fan wrote, while others called the claim “a stretch” and “a reach.”
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Tendler’s TikTok account is currently private as of publishing, but in a comment on a re-uploaded post of the video, she clarified that her initial video was a joke.
“Hi! This was meant to be a joke. Most of my videos are jokes or satire! When I realized it wasn’t landing as a joke, I deleted it. Didn’t mean offense,” Tendler wrote.
However, some Swifites aren’t buying it.
“I’m wondering if it actually might have been a joke bc she thought it might bring attention to her work. It seems so outlandish. Backfired either way,” one user commented on TikTok.