Heavy/Getty Reba McEntire performing the national anthem at Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024. Inset: McEntire and Taylor Swift at the 2009 CMT Awards.
Country legend and “The Voice” coach Reba McEntire is determined to set the record straight on how she feels about Taylor Swift.
McEntire, 68, took to social media on March 16, 2024, to slam a report that claimed she was angered by Swift’s presence on stadium screens as she sang the national anthem before the Super Bowl in February.
McEntire posted a screenshot from a Facebook account that boasts over 108,000 followers but has admitted its content is fabricated. The account posted an authentic-looking update that claimed McEntire had spoken out on how “disappointed she was to look up at the big screen while performing The National Anthem, only to see Taylor Swift laughing and drinking and making a mockery of the event.”
The post alleged that McEntire said, “I let her have it afterward. She’s an entitled little brat.”
“Please don’t believe everything you see on the Internet,” McEntire told her fans in her own post. “I did not say this. Taylor is a wonderful artist, strong role model and has done so much good for so many people and the music industry.”
McEntire has publicly battled back against sites and accounts that have gone viral for publishing false reports about her for years, including another just last month.
Here’s what you need to know:
Social Media Account That Posted Story About Reba McEntire & Taylor Swift Admits Its Updates Are False
The account that shared the post about McEntire, called “America Loves Liberty,” admits in its description on Facebook that “nothing on this page is real.”
But the individual updates it posts, including the one about McEntire and Swift, don’t indicate that the information is false. At the time of publication, the post about McEntire and Swift had been shared nearly 3,000 times on both Facebook and Instagram.
Many fans and friends thanked McEntire for clarifying her stance and calling out the false report, including some who pointed out that during the Super Bowl broadcast, Swift was shown on screen singing along with McEntire, with her hand over her heart.
Actress Melissa Peterman, who co-starred with McEntire on her sitcom “Reba,” commented, “They spelled your name McIntire. So made up story AND a lazy proofreader! 😂”
Nashville-based singer and actress Alicia Witt wrote, “good gracious. as though you would have ever said such a thing 🙄”
Others, however, have flooded McEntire’s post with complaints about how upset they are that she praised Swift, who served as a mentor on “The Voice” on seasons 7 and 17, per NBC, as a “role model.”
Reba McEntire Squashed Another False Rumor on Social Media Two Weeks Ago
McEntire called out another false report on February 24, when she posted a screenshot of an article that claimed she is leaving “The Voice” after the current season.
“Please do not click on any articles that say I’m leaving The Voice,” she wrote beneath the image. “This is not true. These are fake websites to lure people in with clickbait where they claim I have a company to sell weight loss gummy products. This is false. I do not sell or promote any type of gummy product. Please report these posts if you see them on Facebook or Instagram.”
Squashing false online reports is nothing new for McEntire. Back in 2012, CMT reported that she had to address viral rumors that she “fell more than 100 feet to her death” while filming a movie in Austria.
At the time, a statement was posted on her website that read, “Contrary to ludicrous reports, Reba has not passed away, nor was she even in Austria at the time of her alleged death.”
McEntire is currently appearing on her second consecutive season of “The Voice,” where she replaced longtime coach and fellow country star Blake Shelton in the fall of 2023. He retired from the show in May after 23 seasons.
Season 25 premiered on February 26 with McEntire choosing and coaching contestants alongside John Legend, Chance the Rapper and country duo Dan + Shay.