Nothing like offering up something non-existent as a prize at a charity auction.
As USA Today reports, the organizers of a charity event called the 12th Unbridled Eve Derby Gala, set for May 2 in Louisville, Kentucky, had to apologize after it was reported that one of the prizes for the event’s auction was tickets to Taylor Swift's 2026 tour. The problem? Taylor hasn’t announced any such tour.
What made the story viral was an April 12 story on a Louisville TV station website about the event. Sourced from the charity’s own press release, it listed all the auction prizes, one of which was “Taylor Swift Package: Signed guitar by Taylor Swift and two concert tickets to her upcoming 2026 tour.”
After Swifties went into a tailspin, organizers then posted an apology on the event’s Facebook page, stating that their press release had “inadvertently listed one of our auction items as a ‘Signed guitar by Taylor Swift and two concert tickets during her upcoming 2026 tour.’”
It continued, “Our deepest apologies for getting the Swiftie Nation excited, but it should have said ‘Guitar signed by Taylor Swift and two tickets for a concert during her next tour.’ We have no knowledge whatsoever of when that tour will be.”
That online story has since been corrected to “Signed guitar by Taylor Swift and two concert tickets for a concert during her next tour.” The press release about the event has also been corrected.
The primary beneficiary of the star-studded event is Blessings in a Backpack, an organization that fights childhood hunger by giving needy schoolkids a backpack of food on the weekends, when they don’t have access to food in school.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Sign Up
