Everything You Need To Know About The Taylor Swift Stan Account Drama

By Alexandra Mondalek


in the time of social media ubiquity, celebrity fan clubs look more like popular Twitter and Instagram pages that make use of by-the-second updates on a celebrity’s life to rack up followers in the thousands, and some days even millions.


Usually, celebrity fan accounts concentrate on the star whose lives they idolize, not the account owner’s personalized life or political inclinations. Breaking that mold is @LegitTayUpdates, the Twitter account with a 15,000-person-and-counting following operated by a Israeli woman identified as “N” in task to protect her identity. The Taylor Swift fan account purports to be a parody of similar, more straightforward fan accounts which seek to update Swifties on the singer’s every move. The account isn't actually connected to Taylor herself in any way, yet it recently blown up on Twitter for a surprising reason: N says her account hadn’t been mobile in recent months because she’d been serving a prison sentence for refusing to enlist in Israel’s army — the Israeli Defense Force — which is legally need for all Israelis.


“As most of you know, I haven't been very mobile in the past couple of months because I was in prison :/ I'm back right now though :) more Taylor Swift updates coming soon!” N tweeted on April 2, breaking what seems to be a bout of inactivity on Twitter starting in late February of this year.


Soon soon after N posted the tweet, a venerable force of Twitter users engaged with the update, racking up thousands of retweets and multiple screenshot reactions.


Prior to the post, N’s feed included commentary like updates associated with Swift’s upcoming performances, and the singer’s much-discussed public friendships with other celebrities. While most of the tweets on the page @LegitTayUpdates oscillated between gushing and informative, none appeared to veer into political commentary, especially not those of N herself.


N told Teen Vogue that she’d began the account in the opening place as a parody (which is perhaps why some Twitter users suspected the declaration of imprisonment was a hoax), yet eventually determined to stick with it, in part because “coming up with updates makes me have to stretch my creative muscles.”


“Sometimes [my tweets] are not well-received, which is fine (I do disaster up some days, I'm a big enough person to admit that), although often they're just little jokes or harmless pranks,” she added, referring to jokes on her page that to the hardcore Swift fan are obvious, although to much less informed followers may appear to be truthful. (One tweet, in which N suggests Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift are no longer best companions, would be seen as misinformation alternatively opposed to sarcasm, for those who aren’t aware of the fact that both Kloss and Swift have defended their friendship publicly.)


“I've attempted to create ensure [the account is] not malicious or makes people feel silly, yet I some days miss the mark,” N added to Teen Vogue. “But if I have this platform already I'd like apologize for times I posted something that wasn't okay. I'm still learning!”


N, who says she is 19 years old and served a two-month prison sentence, instructed them Jerusalem Post, “Once a screenshot of my tweet went viral, everything just group kind of blown up. People have reached out for more info, (former) companions of mine have blocked me and berated me for using my time as a ‘tool for attention,’ people have planned my jobs, cash, drinks, tours in their nation, marriage…”


However some Israelis may be eligible for exemption from serving in the IDF, she did not seek to receive such an exemption herself, preferring to resist enlistment alternatively. “I didn’t get a moral waver [sic] because they proved I wasn’t a true pacifist (I told them I’d punch a Nazi),” N explained in a tweet that has since gone viral. “And you can’t pick to do National Service for no reason, you have got to get a waver [sic]. I wasn’t gonna get wedded or turn Conventional to get a waver [sic], so I did the time. As is the (f*cked up) law.” The Jerusalem Post notes that it might not independently verify her story. MTV News has also reached out to N for comment.


Though N says she served her two-month sentence, the repercussions of her original choice to resist to enlist did not end as soon as she re-entered civilian life, she explained to Teen Vogue. “What I'm really worried about are the repercussions of my prison time. I'll have a hard time finding work in Israel because I didn't enlist, and my decision did put a strain on my relationships with friend and relative, particularly those in the IDF.”


With her newly popular platform, N tweeted (on her other Twitter account, @iknowplacesmp6) that she’d rather those who appreciate her political candor to alternatively direct their support towards the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, a non-governmental agency with volunteer medical professionals in the Middle East.


“I’ve just been attempting to create ensure the focus is on Palestine and helping them, and also spreading info while still protecting my own identity,” she stressed to the Jerusalem Post.


In other words: “Being politically complacent is trash behavior let's habitually learn new shit it's not that hard.”