Taylor Swift says she felt ‘fear and enormous guilt’ after suspected Vienna terror attack

Taylor Swift has taken to social media to comment for the first time on the cancellation of her shows in Vienna, Austria, earlier this month. The singer canceled all three dates of her The Eras Tour after police in the country arrested two suspects in connection with an assassination attempt.

Swift called the cancellations “devastating” and said she had developed a new fear afterward: “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of dread and a huge amount of guilt because so many people had planned to come to these shows,” she wrote. “But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were mourning concerts and not lives,” she said.

The singer said she was encouraged by the support from fans to perform the next show: “I decided that all my energy should be directed towards helping protect the nearly half a million people who came to see the shows in London.”

The singer added that she and her team “worked hand in hand with stadium staff and the British authorities every day in pursuit of this goal.” The performances in England were attended by anti-terrorism officers.

Swift also explained why she decided to speak out about the threat only now: “Let me be very clear: I will not speak out publicly if I think it might provoke those who wish to harm the fans who come to my shows.”

“In cases like this, ‘silence’ is actually a containment, waiting to express oneself at an appropriate time. My priority was to finish our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say that we have done so,” she wrote.