A TikToker famous for looking a bit like Taylor Swift said a prank during which she pretended to be the star suffered from “horrific” timing.
The prank, set up by YouTuber VicInTheGame, saw TikToker Ashley Leechin dress up as the famous singer and meet fans around Los Angeles. Leechin has grown a following of 1.6 million on TikTok for her likeness to the star.
Hired security guards escorted Leechin around The Grove shopping mall, Venice Beach, and Disneyland, and crowds of fans started rushing up to her. At one point, she left a store and was bombarded by people taking photos.
“I give her props,” Leechin said after leaving a large crowd, after having a taste of what it’s like to be a massive celebrity.
Clips of Galvan’s prank have circulated on TikTok over the past week, with some criticizing the YouTuber, saying the video is in poor taste.
The real Taylor Swift was recently ambushed by a huge crowd of fans on the street when she attended Jack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley’s wedding last week.
Some critics said the prank made light of the very real danger some celebrities can find themselves in just by going out in public.
Leechin responded to this criticism, saying she enjoyed the experience overall, but the timing was “horrific.”
The video has now been deleted, but it was quoted in Buzzfeed News.
“If you’re one of the people in my comments saying ‘You don’t deserve to live’ or ‘You should be sued’ and all that stuff, it doesn’t bother me,” she said. “I’m mentally stable. I’m a mom. I have two kids. I have a husband. I’m solid.”
She said the intent behind the video “was not to be malicious,” or “to mock anyone.”
She also called out some of Swift’s fans who are “really possessive” over the star.
“In this fandom, I do feel like there is a possessiveness over Taylor. I feel like that possessiveness can get dangerous, and it did show, it really did,” she said. “I had such a positive experience in person, and then, of course, online, you get a whole different beast.”
She added that people dress up as celebrities “all the time.”
“They do,” she said. “There’s going to be people that don’t like it, and there’s going to be people that do like it.”
