Taylor Swift demands fans stop cyberbullying her exes as she begins performance

Taylor Swift has urged her fans to show ‘kindness and gentleness’ to her ex-partners online.

The 33-year-old is currently embarking on her Eras Tour and last night (25 June) made a plea to her super loyal fan base to lay off men they think she may have dated in the past.

During her show in Minneapolis, Swift sang her song 'Dear John' for the first time in almost a decade. The song, which comes from her 2010 album Speak Now, is widely believed to be written about musician John Mayer, who Swift was rumoured to have been in a relationship with at some point between 2009 and 2010.

Speaking ahead of the performance, Swift referenced her upcoming album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), which is set to be released on July 7, and told her fans they didn’t need to ‘defend’ her on the internet against someone she may have had a relationship with in the past. You can see a clip of the moment here:

She said: “I was hoping to ask you, that as we lead up to this album, I would love for that kindness and that gentleness to extend onto our internet activities.

“I'm 33 years old. I don't care about anything that happened to me when I was 19 except for songs I wrote and the memories that we made together.

“What I'm trying to tell you, is that I am not putting this album out so that you can go and should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 million years ago. I do not care.

"We have all grown up. We're good.”

Twitter

Although Swift has never confirmed who 'Dear John' was written about, Mayer has previously said he felt ‘humiliated’ by the track.

Speaking to Rolling Stone back in 2012, Mayer said he didn’t felt he had done anything to ‘deserve’ having the song written about him.

He said: “It made me feel terrible. Because I didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do.”

He went on: “I was really caught off-guard, and it really humiliated me at a time when I’d already been dressed down. I mean, how would you feel if, at the lowest you’ve ever been, someone kicked you even lower?”