Taylor Swift Sparks Angry Debate With Tweet Thread

Taylor Swift unleashed a string of angry tweets Friday demanding the permanent removal of "racist" statues in Nashville, Rolling Stone reports. Among her appeals, the singer-songwriter urged officials to remove a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest (a "monstrosity") and not replace one of Edward Carmack ("a white supremacist") that was torn down last week by protesters. "As a Tennessean, it makes me sick that there are monuments standing in our state that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things," she wrote, per E! Online. "Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were DESPICABLE figures in our state history and should be treated as such." Among her tweets and responses:

• Swift on Carmack: He "was a white supremacist newspaper editor who published pro-lynching editorials and incited the arson of the office of Ida B. Wells (who actually deserves a hero's statue for her pioneering work in journalism and civil rights)," she tweets. "Replacing his statue is a waste of state funds and a waste of an opportunity to do the right thing."
• Swift on Forrest: "Then we get to this monstrosity ... [he] was a brutal slave trader and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who, during the Civil War, massacred dozens of black Union soldiers in Memphis. His statue is still standing and July 13th is 'Nathan Bedford Forrest Day.'"
• FDR?: Carolina Conservative tweeted, "Now do FDR," prompting Boo to write, "This really is an extremely weak argument..& tiresome. ... The confederacy committed treason to fight a war to perpetuate SLAVERY & then? They LOST! Why glorify that?!"
• Boyfriends: "She also petitioning to get her ex boyfriends removed," writes Jim D. Plorable. "That's like half the men on this planet."
• Democrats: "How about the despicable things done by the Democratic Party during the era of slavery??" asks ponce de leon.
• Evils: "History of evil belongs in museums, not elevated with bland traditional monuments in public spaces," writes Angela Wanczura. "Time for a facelift, to remind anyone who elevates such evils that they are dead wrong."
• Hitler: "They don't leave a statue of Hitler up," writes JM. "Same thing."

(More Taylor Swift stories.)