Taylor Swift was not holding a ‘Trump won’ flag at the Grammys; it’s an altered photo

Here’s the thing about altered photos: They lie, and they lie, and they lie — a billion little times. 

A photograph circulating on social media shows superstar Taylor Swift holding a Trump flag on the red carpet before winning album of the year for an unprecedented fourth time at the Grammys Awards. The flag reads, "Trump won, Democrats cheated!" But it has been altered. 

An Instagram user shared a screenshot of an X post of Swift holding the flag, which has a Variety magazine watermark with text reading, "Taylor Swift blends politics and fashion on the #GRAMMYs red carpet."

(Screenshot from Instagram) 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The screenshot was taken from a video shared on X by an  account called Poo Crave that satirizes a media company, Pop Crave, which posts celebrity-related content. A community note on the post says the video was edited. 

Video posted to Variety’s official X account shows the same video of Swift, without the flag, posing on the red carpet.

The Instagram post’s comments showed some users recognized the photo as satire, but others were confused. "Is this real?" one user asked. 

PolitiFact rated Pants on Fire another altered photograph that showed Swift holding the Trump flag at a Kansas City Chiefs football game. 

Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election by 74 electoral votes and 7 million more popular votes than former President Donald Trump. Claims that it was stolen are false. 

Swift has been the target of conservative conspiracy theories falsely claiming she is a government operative and that her romance with Chiefs star Travis Kelce is orchestrated so Swift can endorse Biden at the Super Bowl. 

Swift so far has not endorsed a candidate in the 2024 presidential race. She endorsed Biden in October 2020. 

We rate the claim that Swift was photographed holding a "Trump won, Democrats cheated!" flag at the Grammys Pants on Fire!