The Texas man who destroyed a guitar autographed by Taylor Swift immediately upon winning it at a charity auction says the whole thing was “just a joke.”
Gary Estes, a 67-year-old business owner, insisted that he didn’t have ill intentions when he took a hammer to the instrument — which he won with a $4,000 bid — as a crowd cheered him on.
“There was nothing malicious or anything about it,” Estes told NBC News on Tuesday. “It was just a joke at an auction that we had to raise money for kids, right? And that’s all it was. There was nothing mean about it, nothing bad about it. It was just a joke that they were making up on the stage, and we just followed through with a joke.”
Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!
The charity event’s auctioneer, Craig Meier, also weighed in on the incident. On the video, Meier can be heard laughing along with the audience.
“It was a funny, light-hearted thing. I know maybe it seemed to be malicious, but everybody was laughing,” Meier said, per the outlet. “There were people there, at the time, who joked around that he’s mad because he doesn’t know how to play the guitar.”
This guy goes full savage mode on a signed Taylor Swift guitar he bought for $4,000 at an auction pic.twitter.com/0q7Dj1TVBn
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) October 1, 2024
The auctioneer said he does think the guitar-smashing was political.
“Taylor Swift, it became a political thing, and that was kind of the gist of it, just a light-hearted bit of a dig at Taylor for coming out politically and entertainers using their influence to influence politics,” Meier added.
Estes told NBC that he’s a Trump supporter and wasn’t happy when Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president in September. “Yes, you can connect the dots there,” he said.
Swift drew ire from much of her fan base after she made her endorsement, during which she called Harris a “steady-handed, gifted leader” and said she was voting for the Democratic nominee because she was “impressed” by Harris’s “selection of running mate [Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz]” for what she labeled his “support for “LGBTQ+ rights” and abortion.