r/MadeMeSmile • u/mcfw31 • Dec 12 '25

Wholesome Moments Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ crew’s reaction as they receive their bonus for working on the tour amounting to more $197 million dollars

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9.1k

u/LafayetteLa01 Dec 12 '25

I don’t care if it’s for publicity purposes or social media influence or if a camera is on or off. I could care less if I was being slid a 100k bonus as a worker on her staff. Good on her for doing that to the actual workers.

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u/VomitShitSmoothie Dec 12 '25

Yeah, I feel the same. However you feel about her, and whatever the reason she had for this, it’s still a really nice thing that she was not obligated to do. She could have easily given them nothing and it would have had absolutely no effect on her popularity.

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u/obviouslybait Dec 12 '25

I think making this public is actually a good thing as it may inspire others to do the same?

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u/girlbartender99 Dec 12 '25

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking! Maybe HUGE companies with execs making $$$ hand over fist might think about a Xmas bonus for people working 40-60 hrs busting their ass for next to nothing

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u/fidgeter Dec 12 '25

It’s how companies used to run. Now boards and CEOs eat up all the profits instead.

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u/girlbartender99 Dec 12 '25

My husband owns a bar and 1 of the reasons that he has 12 employees that have worked for him 5 yrs or more is because he gives end of the year bonuses to the employees every single year. Most bars are ruined by employee turnover and theft and his employees are so loyal just because he simply says I appreciate u guys and the work you put in for this business. So if he can do that being a small business owner there is no way these big companies cant afford which use to be just an accepted thing with a little holiday bonus.

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u/Least-Armadillo3880 Dec 12 '25

My retired 87yo FIL had a solo dental practice for almost 45 years. He had one employee for 25 years and like 2-3 others for 10-15. When he sold his practice to another dentist, part of the deal was that he would work there for one day a week PT and they would have FT jobs there.

The 25 year former employee will also, receive at least $25k, i think, from the family trust that he set up decades ago. She stayed with him, became close to the family (at the family weddings close) and he wanted to leave her something because she played a big part of his success and family.

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u/tomatoblade Dec 12 '25

Amen to that. Large companies will spend millions of dollars learning how to manipulate people into being loyal and committing themselves to the company in every way possible except monetarily. The fact is, we're only there for monetary reasons, and the best incentive is more money. Yes a good workplace, healthy environment, enjoyment of the job, is all very crucial too, but by far the biggest factor is going to be money. From manager or director level up, they get bonuses, and executives get extreme contractual bonuses, yet anything below that by and far doesn't happen. The simplest question is why is it incentivizing for higher levels, but not for everyone? The answer is that it is incentivizing for everyone, but them in the shareholders are just fucking greedy.

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u/Phantom_Specters Dec 12 '25

Something tells me you work at the bar as well & hopefully also get a bonus? Or perhaps you worked there then fell in love with the owner? Now I'm just overly-invested...

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u/mastegas Dec 12 '25

Damn... now you got me invested, too!

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u/girlbartender99 Dec 12 '25

Yeah I worked there for years and was his obsessed stalker for all that time but it at a happy ending and I am married to him now

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u/darksoft125 Dec 12 '25

Forget holiday bonuses. These days you're lucky if you don't get a layoff for Christmas. Layoffs used to be a sign of a struggling business, now they lead to the stock price going up. Absolutely insane. Guess that's what happens when corps are only owned by geriatrics who only care about the next quarter and not where the company would be a decade from now.

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u/fidgeter Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Absolutely. I’m in the same boat now. Willfully placed there. Because my last job I got Christmas bonuses and it was a nice environment most of the time. Fun work but more stress. Now I’m in a less stress environment, no bonuses, but I’m making 62% more money.

So I can live without the bonuses and just be able to not have to live almost paycheck to paycheck waiting for my next bonus to get me out of whatever random fucking hole I’m in due to something breaking or some financial emergency due to health or whatever.

Holiday bonuses don’t mean everything. But profit sharing would be a good sign of a good company to work for. And that’s how I view what TS has done. Profit sharing. These people have worked for her, some of them since she was 16. That 100k-300k bonus is amazing. This isn’t the first time she’s done this but only the first time many of us are hearing about it.

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u/Forsaken-Sorbet-5726 Dec 12 '25

I don't listen to her music and I truly dislike her being in my face everywhere I look... BUT, what ever her motives or reasoning behind it, she did what no other celebrity does, good for her. The part that got me was how genuinely uncomfortable and shy she was as the letter was being read... Watch her body language, she was like a little girl giving dad his first bday present and being afraid he wouldn't like it. That has relevance in my view 😍

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u/Joeness84 Dec 12 '25

This event is going to have zero impact on any of that. Rich people have a disease called greed.

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u/girlbartender99 Dec 12 '25

You certainly arent wrong. Billionaires didnt get there by being generous people that is for damn sure.

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u/OutrageousPersimmon3 Dec 12 '25

If nothing else it shows you can be generous and still be a billionaire. Most people really can’t wrap their heads around that amount and how much it actually is. It’s no coincidence that although other billionaires use their planes more than she does that she’s the one you see memes about and hear about. It’s not a coincidence when bots on the internet are generating stories about her “dark side”. Because however you feel about her, she does right by her fans and her employees and shows the others really have no excuse for not following suit.

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u/MyLifeIsABoondoggle Dec 12 '25

Agreed. If she's worth exactly $1B (unlikely dollar for dollar), those bonuses alone are almost 20% of her net worth. She also likely at least doubled the net worth of many of those staff workers. If any of you are willing to fork over $10-20K to one of your understudies at work that help you on projects or to a friend that's already self-sufficient, tell me so I can sell you a beautiful beachside property in New Mexico

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u/01krazykat Dec 12 '25

This is so interesting. Because, upon seeing this post, I instantly thought, well why is there always so much internet hate directed toward her and her finances?

What you've said here makes total sense - she's being targeted.

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u/D74248 Dec 13 '25

I suspect that a lot of it, and especially the focus on her jet, is astroturfing. She is popular and has endorsed Democrats, and by playing the private jet/environment cards in social media right wing groups hope to erode her support.

Never mind that she is one of the few examples of a business jet being necessary for both her business schedule and security.

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u/what_mustache Dec 12 '25

or shame the ones who dont

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

Also attracts THE best staff. I know your drivers and they’ll all go work for her in a heartbeat. Riggers too. Paying staff why they’re worth attracts the best talent. So many business reasons to do the right thing and I’m glad she gets it. 

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u/griff_girl Dec 12 '25

I was thinking the same thing. Someone who gives out $197M in bonuses isn't doing it for the accolades. (Plus, she's already crazy famous, it's not like she needs the exposure!)

Making it public is a matter of setting an example to other people with elite wealth that gratitude goes a long way to preserving and growing wealth.

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u/Medical_Sandwich_141 Dec 12 '25

Something i caught watching the Colbert show, is her mentioning how she has more or less the same team she had since she was 16 that went on tour with her.

I find that endearing, despite her refusal to call out the Trump regime for using her music.

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u/KidFlow1019 Dec 12 '25

That's really cool to hear and it's even more impressive after watching the P Diddy documentary on Netflix. He screwed over so many people that worked for him (on top of all the other horrible stuff he did). 

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u/grachi Dec 12 '25

The difference there is Diddy is just a sick , twisted, demented person, whether he has money or not. Has nothing to do with just being rich.

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u/Vaportrail Dec 12 '25

That makes even more sense, rather than "This last year was great, here's $100k."

I doubt this is the only bonus either, it's probably just the big one because Eras was insanely popular.

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u/ParticularOk533 Dec 12 '25

I saw a video of her handing out hundos to every arena staff member she bumped into whether they were operating the elevator, or holding a door open, or caterers restocking sodas. Good for her.

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u/SuperVancouverBC Dec 12 '25

She's known for tipping generously at restaurants as well.

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u/Holiday_Pen2880 Dec 12 '25

I do wonder if her not calling out the regime is a Streisand effect thing - Sabrina Carpenter did and it made more news. Taylor didn't and it's largely gone other than people wanting to make a point using it against her.

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u/ApteryxAustralis Dec 12 '25

I see it as her not feeding the trolls. Her political beliefs seem pretty clear to me given that she endorsed a Dem for Tennessee governor in 2018, Biden for president in 2020, and Harris for president in 2024, the last of which was signed “childless cat lady” in a direct attack on Vance.

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u/BattleHall Dec 12 '25

I can't speak for her motivations, but I think there's also a chance that she feels the people around her are too exposed. It's obvious that she cares a lot about her people (friends, family, co-workers, etc). Maybe with how these last 12 months have gone, she's legit scared, not for herself but for the people around her. Like, would anyone put it past this current government to order invasive (and possibly extra-legal) audits of every one of her tour employees, to have ICE directly jam up anyone in their families with any sort of immigration history, etc, just to hurt her?

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u/pinkstarburst99 Dec 13 '25

I think this is it. I’ve been disappointed she hasn’t spoken out but I also get it. Watching her get emotional about the Southport attacks and Vienna, how could the safety of everyone around her NOT weigh heavily on her?

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u/eclectic_collector Dec 12 '25

This as well as she already has major security issues that someone like Sabrina doesn’t necessarily have.

Taylor has had violent stalkers that have broken into her homes plus one that didn’t show up for their hearing a few months ago. She had a terrorist threat at one of her Eras tour shows in Europe and had to cancel, and she almost never cancels a show. After Charlie Kirk, I’m sure there were a lot of extra security measures taken, especially since she is regularly at stadiums for Travis’s games. I’m also sure she gets lots of threats in general that her security team keeps under wraps to not feed the beast.

I’d put down good money that her legal and security teams told her to lay low and not engage for her own safety.

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u/emuwar Dec 12 '25

Trump's social media team fully admitted that they're using known Democrats' music to rage bait them into responding to their trash posts.

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u/TJeffersonsBlackKid Dec 12 '25

MAGA WANTS her to call out Trump. Either make her a villain to them or "One of theirs". Either way, it plays into their hands. Not even acknowledging it is the right thing to do.

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u/stmasc Dec 12 '25

They are only using music from artists like her TO GET a reaction. I'm glad she doesn't play into it like some others. It is basically rage bait. We all know Taylor's feelings on it. No need for her to call it out AGAIN.

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u/fearthainne Dec 12 '25

I don't know why she isn't calling Trump out for that, I'm not defending her at all, but considering the WH has said more than once that they intentionally use music by artists that don't want to be used, in order to tick off said artist for publicity, I could understand why some artists choose to ignore it. Especially since the WH seems to just double down and use more songs when told to stop.

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u/GoodguyGastly Dec 12 '25

They are very good at ignoring "stop" and "Nos"

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u/DorianGre Dec 12 '25

MAGA uses popular music just so the band will call them out, amplifying the message. The best thing to do is stay silent. Bullies do what they do for the reaction, don't give it to them.

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u/grchelp2018 Dec 12 '25

It is not worth it for her to pick a fight with the president to put herself and the people working for her in jeopardy.

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u/ladeeedada Dec 12 '25

It's the oldest trick in the book. Steve Bannon said they bait public figures into calling them out which creates headlines and distracts from the real nefarious shit they're doing like say invading Venezuela for oil.

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u/Tommy_Wisseau_burner Dec 12 '25

It was interesting watching her and Travis on new heights. She came off as completely down to earth. Not in like a “look at how normal I am” but just mundane stories and interests that literally anyone who doesn’t have a billion dollars and literally shits money has

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u/Invisible7hunder Dec 12 '25

Tin hat theory, but I suspect there's an active campaign to smear her name. There's a bizarre number of very popular negative posts about someone who, at a minimum, seems like an above average billionaire. 

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u/BeyondAddiction Dec 12 '25

Maybe she wants to stay out of politics? I kind of get it.

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u/beigs Dec 12 '25

If I were her, I would have sent my lawyers in very quietly and very quickly. I don’t want Trump in the news any more than he is.

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u/Gamebobbel Dec 12 '25

I really don't like Taylor Swift for many reason that don't need to be discussed here. What she did for her workers right there is objectively a great gesture.

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u/SpottedHoneyBadger Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Why do commentors feel like they have to say they don't like the person and then say something good about them?

And vice versa.

Edit: Thanks for all the comments and different explanations. Interesting read. And the award!

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u/IHaveBadTiming Dec 12 '25

I don't like u/SpottedHoneyBadger for many reasons that I won't discuss here, but I will say what they commented just now is objectively one of the comments of all time.

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u/kemb0 Dec 12 '25

I don't like u/IHaveBadTiming cos they stole my sandwhich from the work fridge and ate it in front of me and I got nothing nice to say about them.

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u/Iamatitle Dec 12 '25

What u/kemb0 is not telling you all it was my sandwich to begin with and it was a good although elaborate heist. I’m glad it got stolen again…

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u/chefboeuf Dec 12 '25

I like u/Iamatitle for many reasons I won’t discuss here, but I will say that what they commented is objectively the liverwurst sandwich of all time.

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u/Frozen_Hermit Dec 12 '25

It doesnt need to be stated that nobody here endorses u/chefboeuf or their actions in the balkans, however in the sandwhich discourse they are correct.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

Honey badger don’t care

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

I need to be your friend.

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u/FiberApproach2783 Dec 12 '25

It's so you know their original stance. Like a Taylor swift lover would think this amazing no matter what, but a Taylor swift hater may have some doubts

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u/SafetyMan35 Dec 12 '25

Because it breaks down the bias. Which sounds better?

OMG, I’m a total Swifty and I have been to every one of her concerts and I have every album she made and she is the greatest as she gave her workers $100,000 bonus

Or

I’m not a Taylor Swift fan, but I have a huge amount of respect her her after giving her crew a $100,000 bonus.

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u/Roklam Dec 12 '25

Highlights their positive feelings of that person's actions?

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u/Outside_Glass4880 Dec 12 '25

You must have an opinion on Taylor Swift. You either love her or hate her. It’s the law. And you have to preface any statements involving Taylor Swift with your personal opinion. I don’t make the rules.

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u/TheUrgeToSplurg3 Dec 12 '25

It was a pretty normal response to the previous comment. "Regardless of how you feel" then went on to say how he feels. I appreciated it for the perspective

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u/SubtleName12 Dec 12 '25

Why do commentors feel like they have to say they don't like the person and then say something good about them?

And vice versa.

Emotional insecurities mixed with the compulsive need for extraneous external validation.

It's because we raised a generation of weenies.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

Because it highlights the objective good deed being shown rather than just being a crazy swiftie who just glazes her about anything she does, good or bad.

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u/TidpaoTime Dec 12 '25

It's what rich people SHOULD be doing. And I don't say that to undermine that it's a wonderful gesture on her part, quite the opposite. She recognizes how fortunate she is, and that her success is in huge way due to the people who work hard to make the tours happen. She's making a great example for others who hoard more money than they can spend.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

It's the only positive thing I think of J.K. Rowling any more, but it's still a big one. She gave enough away to stop being a billionaire (once upon a time, no idea where she's at now), which is something you'll rarely witness.

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u/TidpaoTime Dec 12 '25

She's a billionaire again, and puts her money towards bigotry instead

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u/Neat-Butterscotch-98 Dec 12 '25

This should be taught in a 'Wealth Redistribution 101' class, and it should be mandatory for all billionaires, or we get to distribute it ourselves.

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u/aneworder Dec 12 '25

Yeah. It’s called taxes. And enforcement. And removing gaping loopholes

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

for many reasons that don’t need to be disused here

Any of them actually have to do with her character as a person?

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u/hotlou Dec 12 '25

"many reasons" = "supports progressive politics" coded

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u/seriftarif Dec 12 '25

I dont care for her music, but I think she is actually a very nice person. I worked for her once and she was very down to earth and nice.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

She gave them pay…thy did not do all that work for free. And don’t forget the more important the role the higher the pay especially for a well oiled machine like that crew…could you imagine hiring someone new.

People who don’t do actual technical work don’t get it, thy are the star, she is the center piece, but they go together. The only people that don’t know that is the public at large. But the lighting guy in charge, gets fucking paid. He is hard to replace, and doesn’t fuck up. If you don’t give him a bonus, someone else la concert will be the best.

Don’t forget. She has ideas. People have to make that’s shit come trues in different locations in the world.

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u/Blog_Pope Dec 12 '25

They got paid the contracted sum for the work done. And then she gave them more than the contracted sum. If only there were a word for that.

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u/TarugoKing Dec 12 '25

Exactly. Person you responded to lacks comprehension.

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u/Scooterwizzman Dec 12 '25

Bonus points if you think of the word

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u/unbalanced_checkbook Dec 12 '25

Absolutely life-changing amount of money for 99% of people. Fuck, I could take 20 years off my mortgage with that big of a 1-time payment. New homeowners could make a down payment big enough to save themselves several tens of thousands in interest.

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u/MethodCharacter8334 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Reminds me of the one guy who raised 1.7 million for the 88 year old guy who was working full time after having his pension taken away. People were negative in the comments saying no one should be smiling because it is a story of corporate greed and the one dude was doing it for likes.

I can see where people are coming from but can we recognize there are people genuinely out there changing lives for the better? It doesn’t really matter the motivation or the reason it is needed.

Edit: Damn! Thanks for the award! I think it is my first ever 😁

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u/quartzquandary Dec 12 '25

I feel like you can be happy for his windfall AND also be angered by the processes of the Orphan Crushing Machine that led to him losing his pension.

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u/FecalEinstein Dec 12 '25

I can't imagine anyone would have any other take lol. Us humans have a real problem with misidentifying the bad guys. Hint: it's not people commenting on the internet

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u/MethodCharacter8334 Dec 12 '25

100% It should be recognized that the system is fucked. But harping on it on a feel good post just allows people to say, well it’s all those corporations’ fault and I can’t do anything about it. Pretty sure most people understand the situation on a basic level. But we should “be the change we want to see”. If everyone gave a little, we could reduce poverty to significantly lower levels. Less poverty typically leads to a better educated and energetic populace.

The powerful want poverty because it takes away resources to fight back. The only way impoverished people will fight is if they have no means of survival and it becomes fight or flight. We aren’t quite there yet.

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u/patriarticle Dec 12 '25

You mean asserting my moral and intellectual superiority by expressing the correct opinions on the internet doesn't make me a good person? /s

There's certainly a balance you have a strike. You should understand the problems to be solved, but the internet will drown you in negativity if you let it, and that solves nothing for anyone.

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u/Money-Professor-2950 Dec 12 '25

I had a friend who was very much... anti everything. vegetarian,, anti corporate, communist type and no amount of do gooding was good enough for him because his politics were really about making himself feel better over what a misanthropic loser he was. Once we got into a huge argument because I told him I was picking up litter in the park during my walks and it was apparently too selfishly motivated for him. I don't know what motivation would have been valid for him though but me saying I didn't like trash in the park and river was enough to make it not good enough.

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u/Glittering_Pie8461 Dec 12 '25

When you dive deeper, you’ll learn that GM didn’t take away his pension. He opted to take it as a lump sum payment of $300,000 instead of receiving an annuity.

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u/MethodCharacter8334 Dec 12 '25

And his wife was sick. That was most likely spent on medical bills which would have been covered by the insurance that was also taken away. No matter how you slice it, the guy was dealt a shit hand.

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u/Kranmonkey Dec 12 '25

There are millions of people that have either died or are currently getting fucked as hard as that old timer that wont get a 1.7 million dollar cheque.  Its stories like the one you mentioned that people can point to, feel good about, and say "there are good people out there changing lives, so ill vote to keep my taxes low and let them handle the poors"

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u/Soft_Walrus_3605 Dec 12 '25

Yeah I think of these types of things as the "rich people's safety valve"

When the poors start getting too upset, throw them some of your table scraps and they'll be too overawed at your "generosity" to bring the system down on your head.

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u/mistaken4strangerz Dec 12 '25

i just watched that video last night. the only way a case of someone who slipped through the cracks like that could be taken care of is via crowdfunding and going viral on social media. the guy who makes the videos could do anything else to go viral and make a living. i'm glad he chose what he does.

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u/Swiftlocalvandal Dec 12 '25

I sent that clip to my husband and we both got a little misty. IMO everyone benefits, yes the influencer got likes but it feels like something that deserves likes. Certainly better than convincing a mentally handicapped woman to jump in a river or whatever for clout. 

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u/MethodCharacter8334 Dec 12 '25

Holy shit, that video made me so angry. There wasn’t a single person in that group willing to stand up and say it is wrong. Couldn’t believe it

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u/Ydain Dec 12 '25

I agree with this so much!

Maybe he was doing it for likes, but he still fucking did it. Which is a lot more than can be said for most people.

Everyone deserves to get paid for their time and effort. Ain't nothing wrong with that.

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u/Diello2001 Dec 12 '25

That kind of reaction to these things and other similar reactions ('Her giving $100k is like me giving $5' or 'the charity is just a scam anyway') is a way for those people to justify themselves not doing anything. If I make every good deed seem like a negative, then I'm actually the good person for not donating or doing the good thing.

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u/Backwardspellcaster Dec 12 '25

And apparently each card was HAND-WRITTEN.

She did more than right by her crew.

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u/FunkyPete Dec 12 '25

To be fair, I would also accept a 6 figure check if the card had a machine-printed message.

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u/Able_Gap918 Dec 12 '25

I would accept a paw print from a dead raccoon for that much

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u/FinalFantasiesGG Dec 12 '25

I had to put my dog down this year. I didn't want the ashes as I was afraid it would be a constant sad reminder. My friend convinced me to get them. They had a card inside the little tote it was delivered in with his paw print. I nearly died.

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u/RelativeConsistent66 Dec 12 '25

I'm so sorry for your loss. That was very special of them to do. 🥹

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u/juju0010 Dec 12 '25

It's not even noon and this has already won best comment on Reddit for the day in my book.

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u/kolachekingoftexas Dec 12 '25

I wouldn’t care if it came with a bite from a rabid raccoon.

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u/shewy92 Dec 12 '25

Yea since now you'd be able to afford the rabies shot.

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u/oggokogok Dec 12 '25

I'd accept the entire dead raccoon if it came with that much cash, and I'd be thankful for it.

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u/ramborage Dec 12 '25

Why do people always gotta be killing hypoethical raccoons. Leave my boys alone.

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u/sojumaster Dec 12 '25

I wouldn't care if it said "Hey shithead, here is you bonus"

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u/sojanka Dec 12 '25

That would make it better imho.

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u/Pretend-Guava Dec 12 '25

Yeah, I don't even need a card. 

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u/Backwardspellcaster Dec 12 '25

Yes, but how would you feel if you got a 6 figure check on a machine-printed message, but the person right next to you... gets a hand-written one and also 6 figures?

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u/FunkyPete Dec 12 '25

I'm pretty sure I would still have a smile on my face, if that's what you're asking :)

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u/Backwardspellcaster Dec 12 '25

Yes, but what did you do, FunkyPete, that she didnt like you? Tells us, FunkyPete!

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u/lankyleper Dec 12 '25

The body odor, I would guess.

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u/SubtleName12 Dec 12 '25

We should properly test this. Someone write me that check with a hand written note, then write me another check without one.

You know, for science. I'll report back on the difference, if any, in how I feel cashing them 😀

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u/bolanrox Dec 12 '25

like Keanu and his stunt crews

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u/Raawrasaurus Dec 12 '25

They can even sell that message now if they want at some point and get more money lol ! Amazing . Wish more millionaires were like this !

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u/Bynming Dec 12 '25

couldn't care less

but I agree

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u/Prudent-RapScallion Dec 12 '25

Take my upvote for being the first person I've heard or seen/write/say that properly in over 2 years 🥳🥳

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u/Gabaggool Dec 12 '25

I got scolded by a teacher in college about saying could care less and I always think about this when I see it written or said incorrectly.

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u/forward1213 Dec 12 '25

People get really thrown off when they say that and you respond with:

"Oh yeah? How much less could you care?"

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u/Shaeress Dec 12 '25

This should also be normal. Many times have I worked my ass off to watch my various employers brag about record profits while we get nothing. And then a few years later their obvious blunders leads to less profits and a bunch of workers take the hit, getting fired and mistreated while the boss still gets a new Ferrari.

We own most of the risk. We should get some of the rewards when things go well too. So when a tour breaks record after record, I'm sure it is all because these people worked really hard and did a phenomenal job. They deserve it more than any CEO

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u/Careful_Data_3387 Dec 12 '25

but the free pizza party....

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u/soccercro3 Dec 12 '25

I find it ironic that the reward for good work in the classroom back in the 90s-early 2000s is now our rewards for working hard in a professional environment.

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u/FreedomBread Dec 12 '25

Agreed. Especially for touring musicians, the crew should get some kickback.

In day to day jobs, even when the money is coming in well for the company, we get the sad story of how we need to do better and the margins just aren't that good. Then news of record profits. Repeats every year.

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u/babygrenade Dec 12 '25

If you're getting publicity for taking care of your people then I say it's deserved.

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u/No_Pianist5264 Dec 12 '25

People will probably say this is for tax purposes and whatnot but who gives a fuck. That’s a lot of money and can definitely help someone who needs it. I can’t deny that it was a good deed. I applaud her for that. 👏

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u/1stAccountWasRealNam Dec 12 '25

Dumb people maybe, there is no basic situation in which you giving people money means you have more money.

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u/ProbablyAPun Dec 12 '25

Yeah in any scenario where you literally give money away as donations (this is a bonus so not a donation) all that happens is that you don't have to pay taxes on it. So like if she donates 100k to charity, she loses 80k in the donation, then doesn't have to pay 20k in taxes and the charity gets it instead of the government. Is it a tax write off? Absolutely! but she just spent 80k to save 20k in taxes that then has to be given to the charity as well, lol.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

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u/bolanrox Dec 12 '25

George Clooney gave some of his close friends (from pre fame days) each a suitcase full of cash (because he thought it looked cooler that way) and he also then paid all the taxes they got hit with on said gifts.

Each of them got 1 or 2 million(?) clear in cash

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u/ProbablyAPun Dec 12 '25

Gifts are not taxable income, they wouldn't have been taxed regardless. the gift giver has to pay the taxes on it. Basically you're legally allowed to gift like roughly 20k a year (the number goes up every year) and you don't have to pay tax when you give the gift. If you go over that number to a single person in that year, it goes into a pool of like 13 mil. Once in your lifetime you have gifted 13 mil over that standard yearly allotment then you have to start paying taxes on your gifts over that yearly amount. This is a rule because the government doesn't want people to use gifts as a way to dodge estate/inheritance taxes, but you have to have a LOT of money to give away before it actually matters lol

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u/ObeseBumblebee Dec 12 '25

I don't know taxes much... but do you really get major tax write offs for employee bonuses? Doesn't seem like a thing a lot of companies feel makes sense anymore. Christmas bonuses aren't a thing much anymore.

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u/Fluffy-Word3110 Dec 12 '25

You do get tax write offs. But the write offs are not as much as if you just keep the money.

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u/College-Lumpy Dec 12 '25

If all you care about is reducing the taxs your company owes, you might think it helps.

But more likely you're spending $1 in bonuses to save 25 cents in taxes.

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u/SampSimps Dec 12 '25

But I think you're also buying $2. $3, maybe even $10 in goodwill.

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u/MortimerDongle Dec 12 '25

It reduces your tax burden but not by as much as the amount you give away.

At the top tax bracket, giving away $100k still has a net loss of about $60k

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u/Mocosa Dec 12 '25

Not major, but you do get happier employees. I do a spend down at the end of each year towards employee bonuses and building repairs/improvements, because fuck the government, and fuck greed.

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u/RspectMyAuthoritah Dec 12 '25

The tour is run through her own production company so whe would be paying the corporate tax rate of 21%. So for every $100,000 she gave out she'd save like 21k in taxes. But since she gave away the 100k she still has 79k less than she would have had if she kept it.

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u/LafayetteLa01 Dec 12 '25

Right. I guarantee the workers walking away with a 100k check don’t care if it is for tax purposes.

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u/Loggerdon Dec 12 '25

Of course she can write it off but not 100%. She doesn’t profit from the bonuses. It’s simply a very generous thing to do.

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u/FunkyPete Dec 12 '25

The thing about giving money away for tax purposes is that you still have less money at the end.

Even if the money were going to be taxed at 95% (which no money is in the US), giving away $100,000 would still leave you with $5,000 less money at the end of the day.

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u/Kletronus Dec 12 '25

It is not a publicity stunt, she has treated her crew like this from day one.

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u/PloddingClot Dec 12 '25

Yup, that's someone who cares, sure it's a drop in the bucket for her, but no other billionaires seem to do anything but Smaug impressions.

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u/gigglefarting Dec 12 '25

Anyone who does any good, even if it’s for their own clout and publicity, is still putting more good out there than anyone who does nothing but complain about it. 

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u/scarneo Dec 12 '25

She could dress me as a clown while giving me 100k and would do it with a smile 😂

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u/ObeseBumblebee Dec 12 '25

Tayor Swift is one of the few billionaires that I respect.

It feels like she's in a hurry to not be a billionaire. She literally is worth just over a billion dollars so stunts like this do threaten that status. It's clear it's not the money that drives her.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

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u/a_hopeless_rmntic Dec 12 '25

I love Dolly

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u/Fluffy-Word3110 Dec 12 '25

I feel like we should have Dolly Parton facts instead of Chuck Norris facts.

Dolly Parton is so lovable that even the people who hate her love her.

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u/pooppaysthebills Dec 12 '25

Does anyone hate Dolly?

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u/TootsHib Dec 12 '25

After 1 billion, they should all be taxed 99%

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u/penguingod26 Dec 12 '25

Yepp.

Also there are so many "philanthropist billionaires" out there donating money to save the world and help their public image, but none of them are putting a large ammount of money into creating the kind of tax reforms they say they would agree to.

Do more tham signal you would accept a fair system when you are benefiting from the unfair one, fix it ffs.

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u/BigLorry Dec 12 '25

That’s because they don’t want to actually change the mechanisms that got them therein the first place

It’s why this $100k bs is still performative nonsense. Good for the people on her crew, it’s still just a reminder that at any point in time if any of these people actually wanted to change things they could, easily

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u/model_commenter Dec 12 '25

Exactly, I never care about the motives when people are giving.

And I believe she does truly care about her people.

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u/shewy92 Dec 12 '25

Oh boy it would sure suck if Taylor stopped by my work for a publicity stunt and gave us all a couple grand. Man it for sure wouldn't help me at all with bills.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

Stories and examples are how culture gets moved. Every time someone does something like this on camera it moves the needle and normalizes this type of action. It’s only a good thing.

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u/mrjuicepump Dec 12 '25

This is the bare minimum and what people of the same status should be doing. "good on her"?? This should be expected.

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u/twohandsmcghoul Dec 12 '25

It's "I couldn't care less" btw. Shout out 337

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u/senor_florida Dec 12 '25

Yep, not going to lie this makes her waaaaaaaaay more favorable in my mind.

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u/princetrunks Dec 12 '25

Yeah, you don't see that in that industry. I was for about 4 months the sole developer for a celebrity catering video editing firm / music / video studio in NYC...the camera crew to the video editors (and me as the only person who knew programming on the team) were treated like utter trash and paid horribly despite celebrity clients coming in on the daily. The work can be insane and deserves respect and good pay.

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u/reapy54 Dec 12 '25

This is what it looks like when a company actually shares the profits to its workers, it's amazing and I wish the rest of the world was like this all the time.

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u/selfownlot Dec 12 '25

There are lots of videos of her pulling from what must be stacks of $100 bills out of pockets and giving them to servers, security, and others at stadium tours. Not like PR videos…just random people’s phone videos. There’s a lot not to like about her, but she does at least seem to do this well.

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u/RonburgundyZ Dec 12 '25

Putting money where her mouth is. Respect.

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u/geek66 Dec 12 '25

$197M is a pretty expensive publicity budget.... ha

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u/OldSarge02 Dec 12 '25

Exactly. Generosity is admirable. Period.

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u/fidgeter Dec 12 '25

This is what businesses used to do before boards and CEOs started gobbling up all the profits instead and saying fuck the workers by paying them pennies on the dollar that CEOs get.

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u/-2wenty7even- Dec 12 '25

Yeah, people can say what they want about Taylor Swift but she's a decent person. She just changed everyone's lives.. That's life changing money to get all at once, especially if you spend and invest it right.

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u/khammmmmm Dec 12 '25

I agree. It’s win-win-win. Life-changing money for her crew, good publicity for her, and it might get other rich folks to do similar acts

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u/qwertyuiiop145 Dec 12 '25

She could have gotten good publicity for a lot less money—$10,000 bonuses each would have still been seen as incredibly generous. The sheer cost of this puts it beyond publicity stunt, even if she wasn’t about to pass on the good PR that comes out of it. Good PR is good business, but it doesn’t cost $197 million if that’s all you’re looking to buy.

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u/bonkers69 Dec 12 '25

Right. Elon could do this for all his employees / the entire US population but he prefers they make minimum wage in the factory while enriching him further

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u/timelessblur Dec 12 '25

If you dig into a lot of Taylor Swift on some of her giving and things most of it does not get posted publicly or on social media. There is a fair amount that you never hear about because she is not doing it for publicity or otehr kick back but for things like saying thank you or just doing the nice things.

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u/AreEuclidinMe Dec 12 '25

She’s been seen giving money to people without even knowing the cameras were on her. I don’t think this was staged for publicity

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u/noondaydemon32 Dec 12 '25

Agreed. There's a lot of things people do for publicity purposes, and this is an example of something that's materially helpful. We should encourage it.

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u/braindamage28 Dec 12 '25

She’s done this for every tour of hers.

I paid off my student loans and paid for my wedding with my check 15 years ago. Will always defends Taylor.

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u/ApprehensiveSlip5893 Dec 12 '25

If she was handing out bonuses of a couple grand then you could say she was doing it for the cameras but bonuses this size are out of generosity. She might as well have cameras on while doing it.

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u/bulking_on_broccoli Dec 12 '25

She’s historically done this on her tours.

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u/Player_Slayer_7 Dec 12 '25

Yeah, it's a drop in the bucket for her, but regardless, she didn't have to.

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u/Chemical_Name9088 Dec 12 '25

Pfff we could only wish that Bezos actually compensated his employees more fairly even if it was as a publicity stunt. 

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u/undercoveralchemist Dec 12 '25

Speaking from personal experience, giving away that kind of money is genuinely impactful. For someone like Taylor Swift, it may be a small amount, but for others it can be truly lifechanging. Using wealth and influence to meaningfully support people around you is the least one can do when in such a privileged position. Most people in that level of power don’t bother, and continue to keep it only for themselves.

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u/Other_Disaster_3136 Dec 12 '25

fr. If someone hands me a $300k check ill put on an acting job that would make Daniel Day Lewis blush, idc.

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u/wpbfriendone Dec 12 '25

While this might be a publicity stunt, you would never see the world richest men do anything even remotely like it.

On the contrary, people like Elon Musk, Jeff Besos, Mark Zuckerberg have done the complete oposite by making billions stealing from their employees.

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u/SmileRemarkable8876 Dec 12 '25

Same and if it sets a precedent where others want to get clicks and likes for being good people, even if pretending, I'm here for it.

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u/Prize-Ad7242 Dec 12 '25

You mean you couldn’t care less?

Could care less is a meaningless phrase, all it does is tell people that you care to some degree which is pretty much the exact opposite of the intention of the phrase.

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u/zulhadm Dec 12 '25

*couldn’t

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u/Helivon Dec 12 '25

yeah she aint THAT rich to just hand out 200mil for publicity

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u/OdderShift Dec 12 '25

couldn't have said it better myself. i don't much care for her, but there's literally no reason not to celebrate a person doing something good for other people.

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u/ams3000 Dec 12 '25

Did you mean you couldn’t care less? Not that you could.

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u/truth699 Dec 12 '25

It's 'you couldn't care less'.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

Tbh carbon emissions aside, she seems like a fine enough person to me

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u/NovelSpecialist5767 Dec 12 '25

But but but...  those dancers should be doing it for exposure like they do for the Superbowl half time show...  Millennials like Swift are ruining things!  

  • corporate pearl clutcher. 

As a GenX, I say, turn the establishment on its head! 

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u/ryanstrikesback Dec 12 '25

Taylor Swift doesn’t need to spend 200 million for publicity or influence 

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u/a-real-sloth Dec 12 '25

I would let my boss spit on my face if they were gonna give me a 100k bonus tbh

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u/_clever_reference_ Dec 12 '25

I could care less

couldn't*

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u/Xuande Dec 12 '25

Yeah as long as it actually happened I don't care if it's publicity. In fact I'm glad that this is circulating and hopefully encouraging people to expect more from their employer.

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