The Fan Who Sued Taylor Swift
What do celebrities owe their fans?
Many fans try to get the attention of celebrities with letters, artwork, and gifts. Russell Godfrey Greer decided to get Taylor Swift’s attention by taking her to court.
Greer, an ex-Mormon, has used the paralegal training he gained at the Latter-day Saints Business College to frantically vie for Miss Swift’s attention. The quixotic Utahn is at once a nobody and a figure with an online audience of hundreds who have followed his public efforts to romance Miss Swift.
Greer believes that not only does he deserve Swift’s attention, but he has a legal right to it. The argument underlying Greer v. Swift goes something like this: by responding to gifts and other gestures made by fans, Swift created an expectation that she would accept and appreciate other such gifts. When Greer recorded a love song for Swift—more on the song in a second—and it was turned away by Swift’s agents on her behalf, Swift became guilty of creating false representation. In a motion Greer filed in September, he analogizes Swift’s actions to those of a shoe store selling defective shoes while advertising them as high-quality.
In 2015, a pair of preteen Swifties folded a flock of 1,989 paper cranes in honor of Swift’s mother Andrea, who had been diagnosed with cancer. If Swift accepted those…
