When country-pop singer Taylor Swift released the anticipated Taylor’s Version of her ‘Red’ album which featured a 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well’ last November, Swifties tossed, turned, and cried over its poignance on Twitter and TikTok – not knowing peace ever since.
Not even Jake Gyllenhaal, the man in question to whom Swift had allegedly dedicated the song. And from his interview with Esquire on February 17, the actor has finally reacted and handed his response to Taylor Swift’s hit song ‘All Too Well’.
“It has nothing to do with me. It’s about her relationship with her fans,” Gyllenhaal told Esquire, denying that the song was written about him.
“It is her expression. Artists tap into personal experiences for inspiration, and I don’t begrudge anyone that,” the 41-year-old actor added.
Ever since the 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well’ was out, along with its music video that starred ‘Stranger Things’ actress Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien which portrayed young Swift and Gyllenhaal’s past toxic relationship, some fans have vocally expressed their disapproval towards the actor, taking the disparaging remarks to his social media accounts.
The actor mentioned that he encountered countless comments ridiculing him which urged him to disable his Instagram comment section to avoid more disdainful criticisms.
“At some point, I think it’s important when supporters get unruly that we feel a responsibility to have them be civil and not allow for cyberbullying in one’s name,” Gyllenhaal added, mentioning how he was harassed constantly on social media subsequent to the song’s release.
“That begs for a deeper philosophical question. Not about any individual, per se, but a conversation that allows us to examine how we can — or should, even — take responsibility for what we put into the world, our contributions into the world. How do we provoke a conversation? We see that in politics. There’s anger and divisiveness, and it’s literally life-threatening in the extreme,” the actor stated.
“My question is: Is this our future? Is anger and divisiveness our future? Or can we be empowered and empower others while simultaneously putting empathy and civility into the dominant conversation? That’s the discussion we should be having.”
From his interview, Gyllenhaal also clarified that he has not listened to the singer’s ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ album at all.
‘All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)’ debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart at number 1 while the ‘Red (Taylor’s version)’ album claimed the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Swift and Gyllenhaal dated briefly for 3 months in 2010.
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