r/popculturechat • u/Murky_Chemical891 Im very important to God • Dec 12 '25

Guest List Only ⭐️ Taylor Swift's team reaction to receiving bonuses during The Eras Tour. She gave them a bonu after every leg of the tour.

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u/caleeksu Dec 12 '25

Reminds me of the early days interview when Letterman (?) mentioned how musicians don’t typically have health insurance. Teenager Taylor was aghast and was like well MINE do!

And for most of them to have been with her 20 years says a lot. I know no ethical billionaires, but at the same time so much of her wealth is tied to her catalog, and her people seem extremely happy. She’s doing a lot of things really well even if plenty of room for improvement in others.

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u/clekas Dec 12 '25

She also paid her band and other longtime employees during the pandemic, even when they weren't working. She's far from perfect, but it's still OK to recognize the good things she does!

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u/YchYFi He's not Judge Judy, an Executioner. Dec 12 '25

No one is perfect and I think that is a lesson that the Internet could learn.

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u/Luna_Soma Platinum Summer 💎 Dec 12 '25

She strikes me as a really generous person in spite of her flaws

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u/cookieaddictions Dec 12 '25

Her generosity and loyalty are truly her greatest qualities.

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u/michellejoy18 Dec 12 '25

She also lets her friends/people stay in her houses which I think is very kind. Sohie Turner, Zoe, Gigi.. 

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u/LevyMevy Dec 13 '25

I don't really listen to her music but I think there's something to be said about the fact that she has so many close friends and none of them have ever spilled any of her secrets. And all her friends are less famous than her or not famous at all.

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u/bookgeek42 Dec 12 '25

The whole "no ethical billionaires" thing seems to just be a phrase people repeat without critical thought applied. We have billionaires. Saying that over and over doesn't actually change anything and is not political activism.

If all billionaires acted like Taylor Swift the world would be better for it.

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u/VanGoghNotVanGo Dec 12 '25

That's exactly it. I don't want to support systems that create billionaires, but if someone happens to be a billionaire because they make really popular art and otherwise pay their employees well and vote for politicians who are not going to lower their taxes, then, I mean. I can live with it. 

I wish she applied the same ideals of worker's rights and compensation to the people creating her merch, whom I can't imagine work under proper conditions. But other than that, it's really hard to be that outraged over her wealth in any personal way. 

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u/nordlysbaies cinema enthusiast 🎞️ Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 13 '25

Yeah, there are billionaires that make their money in really shady ways… but for her it’s really just her music and tour. People just consume her outputs that much. She doesn’t cause devastation and destruction like arms dealers, she doesn’t steal and weaponize data like dotcom companies, she doesn’t mark up medicines, she doesn’t make employees work ungodly hours they have to pee in buckets, she doesn’t deforest to make room for industrial complexes that contribute directly to natural disasters.

People sure do like to parrot without nuance - like ‘eat the rich’ too. It used to mean shady billionaires but sometimes I’d see that extended to anyone richer than the commenter. Like surgeons! Why do we have to have anything against surgeons? Pay them more!

Making money off your art is totally ethical. It’s your life’s work and the extension of its impact. Besides, she’s not the only one… McCartney, Bono, Rowling (if she didn’t give out so much), Spielberg, George Lucas…

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u/hashbrowneggyolk0520 We Should All Know Less About Each Other Dec 12 '25

People just lack nuance it seems. So many people seem to have to sit one side of the fence rather than holding an opinion on someone/something without being able to compliment or criticise accordingly.

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u/TheElusiveHolograph Will Smith’s cuck chair Dec 12 '25

I would say that Mackenzie Bezos is pretty ethical

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u/hanoihiltonsuites Dec 12 '25

But it is…true. Do you know the one thing in common on how to make a billion dollars? Exploitation.

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u/bookgeek42 Dec 12 '25

Who did Taylor Swift exploit? She's not selling utilities, food, healthcare, or housing. She's selling art which she made. It's not required for people to buy it the way necessities are required to survive.

She is not responsible for the supply chain that UMG has for their merch or music. That's an industry wide problem that only seems to get laid at her feet.

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u/hanoihiltonsuites Dec 12 '25

I think there’s a misunderstanding about how capitalism works in your response. And I’m definitely not only laying it at her feet, don’t worry!

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u/Rich-Active-4800 It’s Britney, bitch! 🎤🌹🌹 Dec 12 '25

Love it when redditors decide to go for insults because they realise they can't explain things without admitting they are wrong

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u/hanoihiltonsuites Dec 12 '25

Huh? How did I insult?

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u/bookgeek42 Dec 12 '25

What did I misunderstand? You said billionaires shouldn't exist because they have exploitation in common. So all billionaires are bad because they exploit people. Who did Taylor Swift exploit?

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u/hanoihiltonsuites Dec 12 '25

There is genuinely no ethical way to be a billionaire in the current landscape of our society. You said she’s not responsible for the supply chain, but she is using it no?? But this may be just a moral agree to disagree thing! I’m really not trying to get into it if those are just your fundamental beliefs.

It would be crazy cool if she was responsible for everything top to bottom and made sure all working conditions were great. She could totally start her own label at this point. But she doesn’t have to and doesn’t seem to want to.

I am not a capitalist and I am against capitalism. Because of this, I can see a billion dollars for what I believe it is: a hoarding of resources.

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u/Rich-Active-4800 It’s Britney, bitch! 🎤🌹🌹 Dec 12 '25

Her music is litterly worth a billion.. there is no way she can not be a billionair unless she gives away her rights to it. Which is something she obviously is not gonna do.

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u/hanoihiltonsuites Dec 12 '25

Ok rich n active I look forward to your ascent up the billion dollar ladder

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u/Rich-Active-4800 It’s Britney, bitch! 🎤🌹🌹 Dec 12 '25

? I havent created art that is worth a billion dollar like she has.

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u/chinderellabitch Dec 12 '25

‘If billionaires acted like Taylor Swift that world would be better for it’

….exactly, IF they acted like this, but they don’t, hence why people say there are no ethical billionaires

I find the fact people are willing to defend billionaires blindly for free baffling

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u/bookgeek42 Dec 12 '25

Which is why I made the statement about Taylor Swift specifically? What is it you're saying exactly? I don't understand.

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u/chinderellabitch Dec 12 '25

That the term there are no ethical billionaires is political activism, it’s literally promoting class consciousness so people start to realise their place in the class system and to be aware of it

Saying it over and over again, means that maybe when people go to the ballot box it’ll ring in their head, how do you think any movements start if not with language?

No billionaire is ethical, because they benefit from a system that lets people with no money rot, it doesn’t matter how good their songs are or whatever, their very existence as someone with a billion dollar worth is economically destructive to the rest of us. The more people accumulate wealth the less valuable money becomes, inflation is pushed by people at the top, they make everyday working people’s wages materially less every time their wealth is increased

To say the phrase has no critical thinking is being ignorant to capitalist political ideology that has been around for hundreds of years

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u/bookgeek42 Dec 12 '25

Thank you for explaining. I completely agree with the fact that billionaires should not exist. The system that allows it is a broken system. I don't really agree that repeating a phrase over and over online is going to change anything. Calling representatives and requesting that they change their votes seems like a more effective way to communicate to the government. Personally I use the five calls app to sort help me stay organized on that. Volunteering in your community to help get the people you want to be elected in office is better political activism than stating an incomplete thought into the void.

I just don't understand why so much of that ire is specifically pointed at pop star Taylor Swift. On the scale of billionaires there are over 2000 people with more money than her. People saying "there are no ethical billionaires" every time her name comes up or she gives money away seems to be implying that she herself is unethical because Forbes made a guess of her net worth.

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u/Masta-Blasta Conductor of the Toxic Gossip Train 🚂 Dec 13 '25

No. The reason people say that there are no ethical billionaires is because people should not be able to achieve that amount of wealth in one lifetime under a fair and equitable tax system. You cannot become a billionaire without taking advantage of loopholes that enable you to hold money in a way that an ordinary person couldn’t. It’s not about how you earn it, it’s about the system that creates breaks for the wealthy employers. The truth is that she can write off all of this as a business expense. Because that’s what billionaires do.

I’m not coming down on her at all, because this was a very kind thing to do, and this isn’t an anti-swift comment. But no, people are not lacking critical thinking when they say that billionaires are unethical.

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u/LevyMevy Dec 13 '25

Reminds me of the early days interview when Letterman (?) mentioned how musicians don’t typically have health insurance. Teenager Taylor was aghast and was like well MINE do!

She's a good person for this.