It comes as no surprise that when Taylor Swift passes notes, they’re on custom stationery with a bespoke wax “13” seal. What is surprising is that the recipient of a handwritten note on that “from the desk of Taylor Swift” cardstock was Dave Portnoy, the Barstool Sports founder who is known for being a Swiftie—and a supporter of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential aspirations.
Portnoy, who attended the second show of Swift’s Miami leg of her Eras Tour Saturday night wearing his special sparkly jacket, shared that Swift’s younger brother, Austin Swift, hand-delivered the note to him in the VIP tent at the show, and that he shared a nice hug with Swift’s mom, Andrea Swift. The note (with its footer that describes Swift as a “songwriter/feline enthusiast,” by the way) thanked Portnoy for his longtime support, and hinted at some of the blowback she’s gotten since endorsing Kamala Harris for president.
“Dave, I’m so happy to have you at the show tonight!” Swift wrote. “I wanted to say thank you for always being so supportive, so loyal, and for having my back when a lot of people didn’t. I hope you have a blast tonight!! Love, Taylor”
Back in September, speculation about whether Swift would share her choice of candidate was at a high. Portnoy, a self-proclaimed Swiftie, was asked about it.
“I’ll never criticize someone for talking about politics,” he said in an interview on Fox News ahead of the debate between Harris and Trump, on whether he thought Swift would make an endorsement. As we know now, it was shortly after that debate ended that Swift released her statement voicing her support for Harris. “I don’t see the upside for her, but to each their own,” Portnoy said of whether Swift would speak out on the election. He also disclosed then that, “Yeah, I’m voting for Trump. I don’t know that I’d call myself a Trump guy.”
Whatever he’d call himself, he’s outspoken: As recently as last week, Portnoy posted a video of a six-minute-long rant about Harris.
“It’s the gaslighting that the left is doing with Kamala Harris, making it sound like she’s some great, groundbreaking candidate,” he said in part. “She is the worst candidate to ever run for president ever.”
However, the morning after Swift released her own endorsement, Portnoy stood up for her on social media. “As the king of the Swifties people are asking me what I think of her Kamala endorsement,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I don’t care at all. People can vote for whoever they want in this country. How somebody votes will never change my opinion of a person. I’m voting the other way but to each their own.”
Flavor Flav took issue with that “king of the Swifties” title, but Swift apparently appreciated the cross-aisle gesture, and thanked him for it this weekend.
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