Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows made a huge mistake last night (November 7): He shared an opinion on Twitter that an intense fanbase thought was an attack on them, and then they got all up in his mentions.

That intense fanbase? Swifties aka: Taylor Swift fans. Just a quick lesson for everyone on things you shouldn’t ever do:

-Don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
-Don’t spit into the wind.
-Don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
-And don’t mess around with the fanbases of massive pop stars!

Anyway, here’s what went down.

• M. Shadows shared an opinion that makes a lot of sense.

  Shadows tweeted, “Selling multiple versions, repackages and bundles of your album to the same fan so that you can get a chart position that no one cares about and is manipulated should be called out for what it is…. Fan Abuse.”

  Selling multiple versions, repackages and bundles of your album to the same fan so that you can get a chart position that no one cares about and is manipulated should be called out for what it is…. Fan Abuse

  — Shadows (@shadows_eth) November 8, 2022

  He added, “I’ll expand: many options are fine. It’s when it becomes: buy the vinyl for ticket discounts… buy the cd version 1 for an extra track. Buy first week 8 track for an exclusive t shirt. Its all bull— to make you buy the same shit to pump numbers. Thats f—ed!”

• Why did this upset Taylor Swift fans?

  Swift released her tenth studio album, Midnights, on October 21. The LP has a standard cover design but also three additional artwork options. In addition, she also had different color vinyl options, too. Because of this, Swifties thought Shadows’ tweets were directed at Swift, herself.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

   

  Deep in the replies, a fan said to Shadows, “I agree!!! Though I do like when artists will offer like 2 or 3 different vinyl variants, cuz sometimes I like to have all of them if I really support or love the artist (like you guys), or sometimes I may not like a certain vinyl pressing & glad there’s others.” The A7X singer responded, “100%. Different versions for different markets… I get it…. But when you make a fan think they need 4 versions of the same s—… it becomes a problem.”

  100%. Different versions for different markets… I get it…. But when you make a fan think they need 4 versions of the same shit… it becomes a problem

  — Shadows (@shadows_eth) November 8, 2022

• And then M. Shadows notices his mentions were blowing up.

  Shadows responds writing, “I was actually trying to figure out how a bunch of little kids started commenting on my post… and now I see all of taylors fans think I’m talking about her because they all bought multiples of the same album. Gotta love the twitter cults! Hope they enjoy the PFP.” He added, “Let me expand: I will not reply to swifties…. Not because its Fan Abuse but because it’s Child Abuse.”

  Let me expand: I will not reply to swifties…. Not because its Fan Abuse but because it’s Child Abuse

  — Shadows (@shadows_eth) November 8, 2022

• While he didn't respond to all replies, Shadows did respond to some.

  One Twitter user wrote, “Taylor Swift would’ve topped the charts on streams alone, (confirmed by the billboard charts) but sure go off.” Shadows responded, “Btw. I wasnt even talking about Taylor… literally the furthest thing from my mind. We are getting ‘options’ from our label but its all a cash grab (hence the tweet)… but dont you find it strange one fan base is so upset about my tweet which names no one?”

  Btw. I wasnt even talking about Taylor… literally the furthest thing from my mind. We are getting “options” from our label but its all a cash grab (hence the tweet)… but dont you find it strange one fan base is so upset about my tweet which names no one?

  — Shadows (@shadows_eth) November 8, 2022

• Shadows ended up being called out by his own fans

  Regarding releasing multiple versions of the same album, one A7X fan wrote, “Wasn’t this the case when Nightmare was released? I remember needing to buy multiple special versions in order to get all of the bonus content (i.e. book of nightmares, iTunes deluxe version, etc). Was it a decision made by Warner Bros at the time?” Shadows replied, “I will admit we were less engaged… sorta like ‘ok that sounds cool’. Now we are alot more focused on whats happening once we turn the music in.”

  I will admit we were less engaged… sorta like “ok that sounds cool”. Now we are alot more focused on whats happening once we turn the music in.

  — Shadows (@shadows_eth) November 8, 2022

  Additionally, another fan replied, “What I’m inferring from this tweet is that there won’t be a Target exclusive, Best Buy exclusive, or WalMart exclusive CD of the new Avenged album.” Shadows responded, “God I hope not… if there is dont buy it! Hahaha.”

  God I hope not… if there is dont buy it! Hahaha

  — Shadows (@shadows_eth) November 8, 2022

• The funniest part of all of this? Shadows might just be a bit of a Swiftie, himself

  When asked whether he likes Taylor Swift’s music, Shadows said, “I actually do.”

  I actually do

  — Shadows (@shadows_eth) November 8, 2022

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