Anti-alcohol campaigner James Swanwick has been slammed as a ‘misogynist’ after criticising Taylor Swift over ‘chugging beer’ for the camera at the Super Bowl.

James, who has been sober for 12 years, was disappointed to see the superstar pick up a jug and scull it when the camera panned to her in the million-dollar VIP box during the big game. The 48-year-old, who considers himself a Swiftie, claims he lost 1,600 followers in 24 hours after posting about the Anti-Hero hitmaker’s game day action. Taylor Swift downing alcohol on National TV and thinking it’s cool or funny is idiotic and shameful in my opinion,’ he said.⁠

‘She’s just perpetuated the mistaken belief that alcohol is desirable.’ Speaking to FEMAIL in the aftermath of the viral post, James admitted using the term ‘shameful’ might have been too much – and he could have described the moment using different words. But he firmly believes Taylor did the wrong thing by chugging the beer at the star-studded event as millions of people tuned in on her account.

‘Intentionally chugging beer on the Jumbotron, and being proud of it, perpetuates the mistaken and destructive belief that drinking alcohol is funny, cool and desirable,’ he said. ‘When in actual fact alcohol is just attractively packaged poison and just one drink per day has been shown to have a degenerative affect on the brain.’ James stressed that he thinks Taylor is an amazing role model, but her behaviour at the Super Bowl ‘fell short’.

‘She can do whatever she wants behind closed doors,’ he said. ‘But I am disappointed that she intentionally glamourised drinking on international TV while millions of children were watching.’ James went on to say Taylor Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce has trained millions of young female eyes on the NFL. It has also enticed many of those to watch the Super Bowl – so much so that female-centric brands like Dove even advertised during the big game.

‘Young girls might now think that chugging alcohol is glamorous, or funny or cool,’ he said, worried. James has previously slammed George Clooney, The Rock and Ryan Reynolds for glamourising alcohol – but his posts have never attracted so much controversy. ‘I was surprised by the reaction to my post. I was watching it – in the first hour 100 followers were gone, in the second hour 100 followers were gone, I lost 1,600 in 24 hours,’ he said.

‘The irony is I love Taylor Swift. I am trying to get tickets to the concerts in London.’ James was inundated with messages from Swifties who labelled him a misogynist, revealed they would be unfollowing him and told him to leave her alone.