Actor Jake Gyllenhaal is encouraging artists to take control of their fans. The actor has faced a fair amount of cyberbullying from Taylor Swift fans after their public breakup. Swift, who has never been shy about incorporating her relationships into her songs, shared some intimate moments of their relationship in her 2012 album Red.
The song “All Too Well” first came out in 2012, and has long been rumored to be about their brief 2010 relationship. The tune and their dating history made headlines again in 2021 when Taylor dropped a 10-minute version of “All Too Well” and a music video as part of the re-release of “Red (Taylor’s Version).”
“At some point, I think it’s important when supporters get unruly that we feel a responsibility to have them be civil and not allow for cyberbullying in one’s name,” the actor, 41, told Esquire in a new profile published Thursday.
Gyllenhaal didn’t mention Swift, 32, directly, stating his comments were “not about any individual, per se,” but added that it’s “a conversation that allows us to examine how we can — or should, even — take responsibility for what we put into the world, our contributions into the world.”
“We see that in politics. There’s anger and divisiveness, and it’s literally life-threatening in the extreme,” he said.
“My question is: Is this our future? Is anger and divisiveness our future? Or can we be empowered and empower others while simultaneously putting empathy and civility into the dominant conversation? That’s the discussion we should be having.”
Although Gyllenhaal was hesitant to call out Swift, the interviewer had questioned the Oscar winner about how the negative media attention affected him after the re-release of the chart-topping song, which chronicled his brief relationship with Swift back in 2010.