Ken Bruce angers Taylor Swift fans after refusing to play her songs

August 5, 2024

Taylor Swift fans have hit out at radio presenter Ken Bruce after he refused to play any of the singer’s songs on his radio show. Swifties have taken aim at Ken, who claimed all of Taylor’s songs “are the same”.

Ken, 73, previously hosted shows on BBC Radio 2 but is now a presenter on Greatest Hits Radio, having joined the station last year. He hosts weekdays on the station, from 10am until 1pm.

While he plays a wide variety of songs on his show, Ken has refused to give Taylor’s tracks any air time – and it seems he isn’t a fan of her songwriting subjects. Ken slammed Taylor writing “about her ex-boyfriends”.

Ken Bruce angers Taylor Swift fans after refusing to play her songs

Fans of Taylor hit out at Ken’s refusal to play her tracks on the radio

“All her songs are the same. I’ll play her on my station when she writes something that isn’t about her ex-boyfriends. Great radio songs have three beats and then they’re straight into the song, not these long intros that she does,” Ken brutally told the Daily Mail back in June.

Taylor has famously penned tracks about many of her ex-boyfriends, with most being other famous faces, including Harry Styles and John Mayer. She is currently dating Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce. Taylor is regularly played on popular radio stations, having amassed millions of fans over recent years and become one of the best-selling artists of all time.

Swifties jumped to defend Taylor and many criticised Ken for his comments. One said: “Leave it to an old white man to be completely out of touch….. shocker,” while someone else added: “Why does an old man who knows nothing about music get to be a radio presenter.”

“There’s literally so many songs that don’t have a romantic theme at all and so many more that revolve around a fictional romance NOT a personal one e.g. Cowboy Like Me, Gold Rush, Right Where You Left Me, Cardigan etc,” another hit out.

Ken Bruce angers Taylor Swift fans after refusing to play her songs

Ken defended his decision

Ken attempted to defend his original comments, also adding: “For our audience, we do 70s, 80s and 90s music. We do early noughties and 2010s not very many but we expect people to know things from recent and current music, only the biggest names though.”

He also revealed that Taylor does get some plays on Greatest Hits Radio, thanks to the daily PopMaster segment. The quiz moved from BBC Radio 2 with Ken when he switched radio stations last year.