If you get arrested in Greensboro, North Carolina, you could be subjected to—or treated to—Taylor Swift’s new songs.
On Sept. 29, the police department took to X/Twitter to warn, “Those who are arrested tonight will be required to listen to Taylor Swift’s new songs on repeat.” This seems to have been in reference to the new tunes Swift dropped with the release of The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore. This is a new edition of her 12th studio album, which originally dropped in October 2025.
Notably, the GPD’s joke was not met with resounding appreciation.
Taylor Swift fans did not love the GPD’s joke about her new music
“Tweet is funny, and all,” one person replied, “but why is a police department that’s meant to be serious and professional making Twitter jokes?” Hopefully you remain professional in your actual cases, and not turn that into a joke either.” The GPD responded: “Relax. It’s called community outreach.”
Don’t threaten me with a good time pic.twitter.com/IEATDdcenl
— kris
(@perfectlyfine89) September 29, 2026
“I cannot tell if you’re trying to arrest hordes of women or think this is a bad time. Dumb either way,” another person commented. Someone else added, “Mind you, bullying a woman… with so many unresolved crimes out there… this is the police for you… feel safe out there.”
Eventually the Greensboro Police Department came back to make things right. Sort of. “We apologize for stirring up the Taylor bots,” they posted. “Please continue to listen to The Life of a Showgirl.”
Taylor Swift was recently honored with an inaugural award at the MTV VMAs
The controversial GPD post comes after Swift was honored with the inaugural Artist Director Award at the 2026 MTV VMAs.
During her acceptance speech, the iconic singer-songwriter said, “I really love writing and music videos. I gotta tell you the main reason why I love it so much is because you make it so much fun…so rewarding. Because you actually care about what we’re making.”
“I want to say thank you to everyone who worked on a music video that I got to be a part of,” Swift continued. “I learned something from every single person that ever worked alongside me on these projects.”
At the end of her speech, she introduced and debuted the music video for her song/single “Patient Zero”. Which, notably, is one of those new songs that the GPD threatened to play to arrestees. Quite the full-circle moment here.
Photo by John Shearer/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
The post Get Arrested in This City, and You Might Be Subjected to ‘Taylor Swift’s New Songs on Repeat’ for Your Entire Car Ride to Jail appeared first on VICE.
