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Web Pranksters Try to Pull a Pitbull on Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift / Photo by Getty Images

As far as being a full-time pain in the ass goes (a “Professional Griefer,” if you prefer) there’s no lower form than the Internet Troll, if only because this creature’s actions typically serve no IRL function beyond stoking a quietly burning fire of frustration inside the soul of its target. But every once in awhile, the bridge-dwellers do something kinda funny.

In July, they rallied to “exile” Pitbull to the distant shores of Kodiak, Alaska. In fact, they succeeded (even if the trollee got the last laugh), and now, the hobgoblin strongholds of Reddit and 4chan are working to send Taylor Swift to perform at a school for the deaf. How is that, you ask? It’s simple, really.

The textbook rental folks at Chegg and pizza provocateurs (that garlic sauce!) at Papa John’s are sponsoring a contest that hinges upon fan votes. Thanks to the efforts of the otherwise effortless, the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Allston, Massachusetts, is currently leading the pack of campuses hoping to have Swift perform on their grounds.

The presence of an exit clause that would allow the singer to opt out has been noted. If a scenario exists where it’d be appropriate for Swift to snub a large community of disadvantaged youth, this’d be it. Still, probably not a good look. The good news: the top five schools each receive a $10,000 grant, so despite their best efforts, the goons may wind up good Samaritans.