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I walked into a venue recently that had a picture of Jake Gyllenhaal taped on the bar with a giant red cross through it. Unfortunately for the actor, his title as public enemy number one (at least for Swiftees) was reinstated after the re-release of Taylor Swift’s 10 minute version of “All Too Well”. For those just joining in, the hit track chronicles the relationship breakdown of a then 21-year-old Swift and 30-year-old Gyllenhaal.
Upon release of Red (Taylor’s Version) fans littered his social media comment section with tiny emoji red flags. The 40-year-old has remained silent on the matter (aside from a brief troll which has been immortalised in print) until a recent interview with Esquire.
Speaking on the song, he has maintained that it isn’t actually directed at him. “It has nothing to do with me. It’s about her relationship with her fans,” he told the publication this week. “It is her expression. Artists tap into personal experiences for inspiration, and I don’t begrudge anyone that.”
According to the interview, he seemed to brush off that it had been a difficult few months and that turning off the comment section would only suggest it had affected his life. Which, it has not. Not at all. Not even a little bit?
Gyllenhaal did go on however to discuss cyber bullying. “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,” he said.
“That begs for a deeper philosophical question,” the actor continued. “Not about any individual, per se, but 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. How do we provoke a conversation?”
