Overview

Dave Grohl vs. Taylor Swift refers to a feud between Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Taylor Swift, sparked after Grohl claimed that Swift does not perform her music live during her concerts at a show in London, England in late June 2024. The clip went viral and inspired criticism towards Grohl from Swift's fans, aka Swifties, with some suggesting his comments were misogynistic. The controversy also inspired Foo Fighters fans to come to Grohl's defense. A few days after his comment went viral, Swift appeared to respond to Grohl without naming him specifically during a show, during which she thanked her live band. It is unconfirmed if this was meant as a direct comment towards Grohl.

Background

On June 22nd, 2024, the Foo Fighters, led by Dave Grohl, performed live in London, England. During the show, he commented on Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. During his speech, he joked that the Foo Fighters' tour should be called the "Errors Tour," saying, "We've had more than a few eras and more than a few fucking errors as well. Just a couple. That's because we actually play live."

A clip of the speech was posted to TikTok^[1] by @strettyend that day, garnering over 1.1 million views in five days (shown below). In the clip, the crowd can be heard booing the moment Grohl mentions Taylor Swift's name.

Some, including Swifties, took this as a dig at Swift and a suggestion that she does not play her own music live. Swift's fans began defending her online. For example, that day, X^[2] user @lucysreputation posted, "so Dave Grohl said at his show in London last night that Taylor doesn’t play live…. I used to love this man sm but wtf? what has she ever done to him? does he hate successful women and why did he have to say that in a stadium full of ppl," garnering over 9,500 likes in the same span of time (shown below).

Developments

Taylor Swift's Purported Response

On June 23rd, 2024, Swift appeared to respond to Grohl's comments during a live show in Wembley. While she does not name Grohl during her statement, she thanked her fans for attending then thanked her band, saying to the audience:

🏟️| Taylor shouts out her incredible band, crew, and fellow performers after the standing ovation 🫶"Every one of my band members, every single one of our crew, my band who's gonna be playing live for you for 3.5 hours tonight, they deserve this so much. And so does every one… pic.twitter.com/7E9CKcIAa4

— Taylor Swift Updates 🩶 (@swifferupdates) June 23, 2024

"What you just did is an unforgettable moment in not just my life, but every very single one of our crew. The band that’s going to be playing live for you for three and a half hours tonight. They deserve this so much and so does every one of my fellow performers, and you just gave that to us so generously. We’ll never forget it.”

Online Reactions

Criticism

Dave Grohl's speech inspired an online feud between Swifties and Foo Fighters fans, with some of the former claiming Grohl's remarks were misogynistic or inspired by jealousy, also making fun of Grohl for arguably being less popular than Swift. The latter defended Grohl's statement as simply being a joke or being his way of venting about a problem with the music industry, with others claiming he was taken out of context and that he and Swift are friends.

On June 23rd, 2024, X^[3] user @beladelgado10 tagged Grohl in a post reading, "I want your wife to divorce you. I want your children to lead unfulfilling lives. I hope you live to be so old you watch every person you love either betray you or face unspeakable karmic retribution for not doing so to the point you feel a deep ache in your soul," garnering over 1,700 likes in four days.

On June 24th, X^[4] user @teamGrey59 posted a meme about the situation, criticizing Swifties for downplaying Grohl's popularity, garnering over 26,000 likes in three days (shown below). Later that day, X^[5] user @susravioli posted, "Can we stop claiming misogyny when a woman gets any slight criticism. Dave Grohl isn’t misogynistic, Taylor Swift just fucking sucks lmao," garnering over 36,000 likes in the same span of time.

On June 25th, 2024, X^[6] user @OhMyEmz posted, "genuinely couldn’t care less what people think about the situation, but taylor swift fans posting pics of kurt cobain’s sui*ide and laughing because they don’t like dave grohl is insane parasocial behaviour," garnering over 86,000 likes in two days.

That day, Anthony Fantano posted a video on TikTok^[7] about the situation, criticizing Grohl's statement, garnering over 95,000 views in two days (shown below).

On June 26th, X^[8] user @akahiiroo posted a screenshot of a TikTok video by an unknown user criticizing Grohl, claiming that Kurt Cobain would have probably loved Swift, the poster wrote, "in what world does taylot swift get the same amount of respect as kurt cobain…?" garnering over 3,300 likes in a day.

Later that day, X^[9] user @boygirlafraid quote-reposted the user, writing, "rest in peace kurt cobain you would have really loved and admired a woman with $1.3 billion in net worth," garnering over 86,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Search Interest

External References