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Anna Marie Tendler, an independent artist perhaps best known publicly as comedian John Mulaney’s ex-wife, is dealing with backlash after jokingly accusing Taylor Swift of ripping her off.
In a since deleted TikTok, which has been screen-recorded and reposted multiple times, Tendler accuses Swift and her tour set designers of using a setup that she felt “looks strikingly like one of my photographs in tone and in aesthetics.”
“It doesn’t totally feel like parallel thinking to me,” Tendler continued. “I’m a small artist, an independent artist who is trying to make money and a living off of my artwork. I don’t know what to do about this.”
The set in question — which Tendler included a clip of at the beginning of her TikTok — is for Swift’s song “Tolerate It.” Swift is seen onstage clearing up a dining room table with two place settings.
The photo Tendler references is from a March 2021 piece that is on her Instagram titled “Dinner in March.” In it, Tendler sits at a dining table with two place settings, and she describes the piece as “arguably my most personal photograph” in the caption.
Commenters were quick to debate Tendler over what exactly Swift “stole” from her — “setting a table“? multiple people joked.
“You didn’t invent dining tables,” a Twitter user deadpanned in response. A Reddit commenter pointed out that Swift even used a dining table set on her tour in 2014 — years before Tendler’s photo. Others jokingly wondered whether Tendler considered “The Last Supper” when making the accusation against Swift.
Tendler has since deleted the TikTok and made her account private. But a screenshot of a comment she made, captured by a Reddit user, said that her intention for the TikTok was to be funny.
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Tendler’s backtracking didn’t seem to have the intended effect. Commenters pointed out that her plea at the end of the video — “I don’t know what to do about this and maybe somebody can help me” — made the complaint seem serious.
“This was meant to be a joke,” she wrote. “Most of my videos are jokes or satire! When I realized it wasn’t landing as a joke I deleted it. Didn’t mean offense.”
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