Taylor Swift used her Teen Choice Awards speech to make this powerful plea
When the Teen Choice Awards decided to introduce an Icon Award for 2019, there was one obvious choice.
Taylor Swift is hugely popular with her younger fans for her values of friendship first, supporting women, and accepting yourself.
And her Teen Choice Icon Award speech definitely didn’t disappoint, as she used it to address equal pay, standing up for yourself, and not being afraid to make mistakes.
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Receiving the award - a surf board emblazoned with pictures of her cats - from US footballer Alex Morgan, she talked about the World Cup winning team’s campaign to be paid as much as the male US football team.
Swift said: “While they were winning the World Cup they were also taking a historic stand in terms of gender equality, gender pay gap.
“Please, please, please support her and her teammates because this isn’t over yet. It’s not resolved... What happened to them is unfair, it’s happening everywhere and they are heroes and icons for standing up.”
The You Need to Calm Down singer then graciously thanked her fans: “You make so so happy. You make me laugh everyday. I love meeting you. You're just the most amazing generous people. Thank you for giving my the life I have.”
She also shared that her new single, Lover, would be released on Friday, August 16.
But what Swift really wanted to talk to her adoring audience about was not being afraid to make mistakes in life.
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She told them: “Mistakes are inevitable.
“Sometimes you think if you try hard enough to make every decision perfectly, you think you can possibly you can ace life and never make mistakes. But it’s normal to make mistakes.
“If you’re out there and you’re being really hard on yourself right now for something that’s happened, or messing up or feeling embarrassed, it’s normal. That’s what going to happen to you in life.
“No one gets through unscathed. We’re all going to have a few scratches on us.
“Please be kind to yourselves and stand up for yourselves, please.”
Meanwhile Swift, who has recently buried the hatchet with Katy Perry and rekindled their friendship after five years, is rumoured to be invited to the Firework singer’s forthcoming wedding to Orlando Bloom.
