Alex Soros’s Group Accuses Taylor Swift of Anti-Semitism After She Criticizes His Family

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, a 501(c)(4) progressive advocacy organization best known for accusing the Republican Party of anti-Semitism, is now accusing Taylor Swift of spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and using anti-Semitic dog whistles after she criticized the organization’s founding board chair, Alex Soros.

Swift’s Instagram Post

Swift recently criticized the “Soros family” for its involvement in her very public and very confusing dispute with Scooter Braun and Big Machine Records. According to Swift, the Soros family financially aided Braun in buying the rights to her music. Swift mentioned by name Alex Soros, the son of billionaire left-wing financier George Soros. The Instagram story reads:

Hey guys – I want to thank my fans for making me aware that my former record label is putting out an ‘album’ of live performances of mine tonight. This recording is from a 2008 radio show performance I did when I was 18. Big Machine has listed the date as a 2017 release but they’re actually releasing it tonight at midnight.

I’m always honest with you guys about this stuff so I just wanted to tell you that this release is not approved by me. It looks to me like Scooter Braun and his financial backers, 23 Capital, Alex Soros and the Soros family and The Carlyle Group have seen the latest balance sheets and realized that paying $330 MILLION for my music wasn’t exactly a wise choice and they need money

In my opinion…Just another case of shameless greed in the time of Coronavirus. So tasteless, but very transparent. [Emojis omitted]

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Comes to the Rescue

Although the Instagram story was clearly inside-baseball regarding the music industry, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action took offense at Swift’s characterization of the Soros family and the use of the phrase “shameless greed.” In a tweet, Bend the Arc asked Swift to “PLEASE” not share “antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Soros family” and claimed that “Shameless greed” is a phrase used to smear Jews:

The Soros Connection

Alex Soros happens to be the founding board chair of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action. In fact, his involvement with Bend the Arc is the first item listed in his biography on the Open Society Foundations website. His name is also the only name mentioned on the Bend the Arc: Jewish Action website under “Board of Directors Executives.”

Some publications covering the Swift controversy, however, have minimized Alex Soros’s involvement in Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, saying he is only “closely involved” with the group.

The Soros connections to Bend the Arc: Jewish Action may run deeper than just Alex Soros serving as the founding board chair. Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice—the 501(c)(3) companion to Bend the Arc: Jewish Action—has received funding from the Soros Foundation to Promote an Open Society and the Open Society Institute over the years. In 2011 and 2012, Foundation to Promote an Open Society gave $995,000 to Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. Between 2014 and 2017, Open Society Institute gave $27,000 as part of a matching gift program.

Swift’s recent tweet was not the first time she has publicly criticized the Soros family. Last year, when accepting the Woman of the Decade Award at the Billboard Women in Music event, Swift said she was “told” that the Soros family funded Braun buying her music catalog.

Even more strangely, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action praised Swift in a follow-up tweet to the Soros saga for endorsing Democrats in Tennessee in 2018. At the same time, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action  claimed her endorsement “led to white nationalists blaming Jews for it & harassing our community.”

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action appears to have a fixation on blaming people who are not white nationalists for a rise in white nationalism. A current project of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action’s is a website called “How to Fight Antisemitism,” which blames Republican politicians who have “inspired and emboldened” white nationalists.

To Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, both Taylor Swift and the Republican Party are causes of anti-Semitism.