Taylor Swift: "She wants her 5 minutes of fame so bad": Taylor Swift impersonator Ashley Leechin gets blasted online misleading fans

Taylor Swift's look-alike, Ashley Leechin, has come under fire for fooling fans into thinking she was the pop singer on Saturday, August 19. Leechin gained popularity on social media, especially on TikTok, by dressing up like Taylor and has also been mistaken as the popstar a few times in the past.

In one of her famous clips, a fan is seen coming up to her thinking she is the 33-year-old singer, with Leechin politely telling him that she is Ashley and not Taylor. Meanwhile, her friend also repeatedly asserts from next to her that she is just Ashley. However, the TikToker's latest prank led Taylor Swift's fans to strongly criticize her.

On Saturday, Ashley Leechin first pranked Taylor's fans by showing up at LA's The Grove shopping area accompanied by several men posing as bodyguards in all-black attire and earpieces. After that, Leechin made an appearance at Downtown Disney, Disneyland's shopping district in Anaheim, California, and pulled off a similar prank, misleading swarms of fans to follow behind her.

Leechin was wearing blue jeans, a white top, and Taylor's signature red lipstick. She also put on a red cap similar to the one the singer was wearing on her album cover for Red (Taylor's Version). One of Taylor's fanpages shared the video on X, where one user mocked Ashley Leechin for craving for her five minutes of fame.

Swifties condemn Ashley Leechin's recent social experiment, which involved her pretending to be Taylor Swift

At first, Swifties and bystanders thought it was Taylor Swift who was walking around the shopping areas in LA. However, soon enough, eagle-eyed fans realized it was not the singer. Shortly after, Ashley Leechin explained on Instagram that she did the prank as a social experiment to see what it’s like to be a well-known celebrity.

She reasoned that because so many fans flock to celebrities in public, they have to hire decoys to go to private events and enjoy themselves without being crowded by fans. However, her prank caused a severe backlash from Swifties who left angry comments online.

Many said that Leechin executed this social experiment in bad taste, further pointing out how these pranks could bring serious danger to Taylor Swift’s safety and privacy. Some also pointed out that cosplaying as a celebrity or impersonating someone famous and actually becoming the person are two completely different things.

Ashley Leechin responds to backlash after her Taylor look-alike video goes viral

Leechin recently took to her Instagram stories to address the negative comments she has been getting for pretending to be Taylor Swift. The TikToker wrote that by no means, her latest experimentation was not a "malicious" act. She added that the criticism does not affect her.

The Taylor look-alike went on to justify the use of decoys in the entertainment industry. She spoke about how Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck hired decoy brides to dupe paparazzi and celebrate a quiet wedding.

Ashley then proceeded to write that the massive amount of positive messages that she has received outweighed the negative remarks. She added:

In the next story, Leechin wrote that people should not expect her to turn off comments on her posts, stop making videos, or completely disappear from social media. She added that the videos which had gone viral were taken out of context. Lastly, Ashley Leechin thanked people who personally reached out to her with kind messages.

About the author

Amrita is a trends writer at SK POP. She completed her post-graduation in English Language and Literature and has a rich writing experience in covering diverse topics such as blockchain technology, product reviews, travel guides, subtitles, and pop culture. However, her personal interest has always been in popular culture, which has aided her with injecting fresh insights to her stories.

Amrita emphasizes familiarizing herself with the topic at hand before approaching it solely from a writer’s perspective. She usually takes the longer route in sifting through all available information online, and makes use of primary sources and verified/official social media handles to check for consistency in details.

In case of discrepancies, she delves deeper into the primary and secondary sources for clarification, choosing to let go of a detail in case its accuracy cannot be established. She supports this approach by centering objectivity in her reportage, keeping her tone neutral at all times.

When not obsessing over a particular detail in her report, Amrita can be found reading fiction or exploring new shows or movies.

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