Originally appeared on E! Online
Zach Bryan has learned a powerful lesson — don’t drink and tweet.
The country singer found himself in hot water on Sept. 18 when he posted about Taylor Swift and Kanye West with the message, “Eagles > chiefs,” followed by, “Kanye > Taylor,” adding, “Who’s with me?”
Not surprisingly, Swifties everywhere were not happy with Bryan, who later deleted his X account (formerly Twitter) in the wake of the backlash from the post.
The post had several layers of insults as Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce is a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs and the “Reputation” singer has a tense history with West, who along with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian has been the subject of many of Swift’s diss tracks.
Bryan backpedaled early in the morning on Sept. 19, posting lengthy messages to his Instagram Story apologizing and explaining his actions.
“For the record guys I wasn’t coming for Taylor the other night,” the “Heading South” singer wrote on top of a screengrab of Swift’s song with Post Malone “Fortnight.” “I was drunkenly comparing two records and it came out wrong.”
Acknowledging the longtime feud between Swift and West in addition to the controversies surrounding the “Gold Digger” rapper, the 28-year-old continued, “I know there’s a lot of stuff that clouds around Ye and I was speaking purely musically. I love Taylor’s music and pray you guys know I’m human and tweet stupid things often.”
Bryan added that he hoped to “one day explain” his comments to the “Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” singer.
“Twitter gets me in trouble too much and I’d say it’s best I stay off it,” he noted. “I’m sorry to any Taylor fans I pissed off or let down. Love you guys and I’m trying my best!”
But the message didn’t end there. Bryan continued in a new post featuring Swift’s song “The Albatross,” sharing that he’s been “going through a hard time in my own life,” adding, “I think I was projecting a little.”
Praising the Grammy winner, Bryan continued, “I respect her so much as a musician that the last thing I want is people thinking I don’t appreciate and love what she has done for music.”
He concluded his message with a warning to fans: “Don’t drink and tweet. Don’t drink and tweet!!”
