There’s no “Bad Blood.”
The smash-happy buyer who went viral for paying $4,000 to take a hammer to a Taylor Swift guitar is a Donald Trump supporter who swears he just did it for “a joke” — and is using it to raise thousands more for a kids’ charity.
Gary Estes, 67, was filmed picking up the guitar emblazoned with the “Shake It Off” singer’s face at an auction last Saturday in Waxahachie, just outside of Dallas — and then immediately smashing it up to raucous cheers.
Estes came forward and confirmed speculation that he was a Trump supporter reacting to Swift’s recent endorsement of Trump’s rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Yes, you can connect the dots there,” Estes told NBC News on Tuesday when asked if he was a fan of the 45th president.
Still, while he wasn’t pleased with Swift’s decision to vote for the Democratic candidate in the upcoming election, he meant no ill will by his hammer-wielding antics, he insisted.
“There was nothing malicious or anything about it,” Estes said.
“It was just a joke at an auction that we had to raise money for kids, right? And that’s all it was. There was nothing mean about it, nothing bad about it.”
In the viral footage, a grinning Estes could be seen slowly approaching the stage to claim the guitar after placing his winning bid.
Once in the front of the audience, Estes took the tool from the auctioneer and immediately started obliterating the instrument.
“It was a funny, light-hearted thing. I know maybe it seemed to be malicious, but everybody was laughing,” the auctioneer, Craig Meier, told the outlet.
“There were people there, at the time, who joked around that he’s mad because he doesn’t know how to play the guitar.”
Meanwhile, the since-shattered instrument is now up for auction again — this time on eBay — after Estes donated it back to the youth charity just moments after he destroyed it.
The listing, which was at $2,800 as of early Wednesday, describes the guitar as being autographed by Swift and comes complete with a “certificate of authenticity.”
But a source close to Swift’s merchandise company has since told TMZ they never authenticated the instrument.
The organizers of the charity event initially took to Facebook last week to advertise what they said was a Swift-signed guitar and described the upcoming bidding as “once in a life time opportunity.”
The dinner was held to raise funds to support agricultural and rural education for the county’s youth, according to the event’s website.
