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The White House responded to Taylor Swift after the singer championed the Equality Act at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards.
“The Trump Administration absolutely opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment of all; however, the House-passed bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights,” said the statement from a White House spokesperson.
The pop superstar opened the awards show on Monday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., with a performance of her new song, “Lover.” Swift was flanked by colorful dancers, then brought it back to her roots by bringing out her guitar to sing the title track of her new album “Lover.”
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The words “Equality Act” were shown over the 29-year-old pop star’s performance, a reference to her support of the Equality Act legislation that would prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
After winning the top prize, Video of the Year, Swift and a number of cast members from the video appeared onstage to accept the honor.
“Regardless of who we are, regardless of how we identify, at the end of this video there was a petition — and there still is a petition for the Equality Act, which basically just says we all deserve equal rights under the law,” she said during her acceptance speech. She was referring to a Change.org petition she launched in June and which had garnered more than 500,000 signatures by Tuesday.
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“And, I want to thank everyone who signed that petition because it now has half-a-million signatures, which is five times the amount that it would need to warrant a response from the White House,” added Swift while accepting the award. She then looked down at her wrist and tapped on it, seemingly referencing a watch.
However, the White House is only required to respond to petitions filed on its petition website if a petition reaches 100,000 signatures within 30 days.
The video for “You Need to Calm Down” — which also won the video for good honor — finishes with the words: “Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally.” Before the video’s release, Swift announced that she supported the Equality Act.
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Representatives for Swift did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Fox News’ Mariah Haas contributed to this report.
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