Hicks: Taylor Swift says she's getting a bad rap

Stop picking on Taylor Swift.

OK, go ahead and pick on her. We don't really care.

In the April issue of Vanity Fair, Swift says she's not the man-stalker everyone makes her out to be, according to the Huffington Post.

"If you want some big revelation, since 2010 I have dated exactly two people," Swift said, referencing Conor Kennedy, with whom she broke things off in October after a brief summer dalliance, and One Direction's Harry Styles, with whom she split in early January.

Define "dating."

"(T)he fact that there are slide shows of a dozen guys that I either hugged on a red carpet or met for lunch or wrote a song with ... it's just kind of ridiculous," she said. "It's why I have to avoid the tabloid part of our culture, because they turn you into a fictional character."

Right, that's just awful. And it's just not fair, especially since she was totally unwilling to become a huge, rich superstar with millions of fans wanting to know her every move. Let's blame the media.

"For a female to write about her feelings, and then be portrayed as some clingy, insane, desperate girlfriend in need of making you marry her and have kids with her, I think that's taking something that potentially should be celebrated --a woman writing about her feelings in a confessional way -- that's taking it and turning it and twisting it into something that is frankly a little sexist," she explained.

Right, it's totally sexist.

I mean, it's just not fair how the media keeps making her write songs about every celebrity boyfriend she's ever had. They didn't pick on Bob Dylan -- a man -- when he did the same thing.

Oh, wait ... .

In the same interview, Swift strikes back (playfully, maybe) at Golden Globes hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who joked about her love life.

"It's a lot easier to giggle when you know that those who mock you will be damned to the 10th circle of Hell," she says.

Gulp.

Just to recap, Swift has had highly publicized, yet brief,! relationships with stars including Jake Gyllenhaal, John Mayer, Taylor Lautner and Joe Jonas, in addition to Kennedy and Styles.

As the Huffington Post points out, it's Swift who decides to play coy about her love life and about whom she writes songs that creates so much curiosity in the first place.

Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales points out that one of Swift's rules is that she won't go into the personal details of any of her relationships, but she authorized someone to discuss them with Sales. Which is as close to in-class note passing as an adult can get, but never mind that.

So that supposed someone supposedly told Sales that Styles allegedly "chased" Swift for a year and when she finally gave in he cheated on her.

"The relationship fell apart after (Styles) texted Swift to alert her of a picture on the Internet of him kissing a friend goodbye. They were 'making out like with their hands all up in each other's hair,'" explained the source.

I don't pretend to understand any of this. Let's move on.

CARLY RAE JEPSEN AND TRAIN DENY BOY SCOUTS: Carly Rae Jepsen and Bay Area band Train canceled appearances at a Boy Scouts event over the organization's ban on homosexuals.

On Tuesday, Jepsen said she wouldn't participate in the Boy Scouts' 2013 National Scout Jamboree, according to TMZ. The singer was slated to appear at the event in Mount Hope, W.Va., in July but decided to back out because of the Boy Scouts of America's anti-gay stance.

The "Call Me Maybe" singer announced her decision on Twitter, saying, "As an artist who believes in equality for all people, I will not be participating in the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree this summer. ... I always have and will continue to support the LGBT community on a global level ... and stay informed on the ever changing landscape in the ongoing battle for gay rights in this country and across the globe."

Just a quick question: Why did they sign up for this thing in the first place? Don't they read? This who! le Boy Sc! out thing isn't exactly a secret.

Meanwhile, the organization is considering dropping the ban or leaving the decision on whether to admit gays up to individual chapters -- a decision on the matter is tentatively due in May. The Scouts signaled a possible readiness to change its policy after Moraga Scout Ryan Andresen made worldwide headlines when he was denied Eagle Scout status because he is openly gay.

GLAAD commended Jepsen's decision on its website, according to the Huffington Post.

"No fair-minded media outlet, corporation or celebrity will want to partner with the BSA as long as the organization puts discrimination and anti-gay bias before the needs of young people," Rich Ferraro, GLAAD's vice president of communications, said in a statement. "Carly Rae Jepsen and Train's decisions not only send the right message to the BSA, but remind LGBT young people that they are supported and accepted."

Train announced they wouldn't play on Monday, unless they Boy Scouts change their anti-gay policy before the summer.

The Boy Scouts upheld its ban of gay members in February, announcing that a vote on the policy will be held in May. The group decided to push back the decision due to the "complexity" of the issue, according to the Associated Press.

The Scouts have faced public backlash over its discriminatory practices and have lost donations from major sponsors, such as UPS and Intel.

HALLE BERRY TO RETURNS AS STORM: Halle Berry will be back to mess with the weather some more as Storm in upcoming "X-Men" prequel (or is it a sequel?) "X-Men: Days of Future Past."

Producer-director Bryan Singer officially announced the news Monday, tweeting, "Couldn't be more excited that #HalleBerry has joined the cast of #XMen #DaysofFuturePast."

Yeah. He sounds pretty excited.

Entertainment Weekly said Berry joins her original trilogy castmates Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Hugh Jackman, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore and Anna Paquin, plus Peter Dinklage and Omar Sy.

!

The fi! lm is slated for a summer 2014 release, according to imdb.com.

JUSTIN BIEBER TICKS OFF BRITAIN: Justin Bieber went on stage late Monday night at London's O2 Arena, leaving many of his young fans angry or asleep.

Stories differ as to whether Bieber was two hours or 40 minutes late. Either way, fans and their parents weren't pleased. Britain's Daily Mail reported "hundreds" of fans left before Bieber hit the stage at 10:23 p.m., as parents were supposedly led to believe the entire show would be over by 10:30 p.m. Bieber ended up cutting his show by 30 minutes, due to curfew restrictions.

A source told MailOnline that crowds booed Bieber when he took the stage, after sitting through warm-up acts Cody Simpson, Jaden Smith and Carly Rae Jepsen. There were reports of kids falling asleep before Bieber went on. Estimates differ as to whether fans waited 45 minutes or 90 minutes for Bieber to hit the stage, after Carly Rae Jepsen's set.

An audience member told MailOnline: 'It's disgraceful, so many children were distressed and left heartbroken... . Many had been looking forward to seeing Justin for weeks.'

Great. Thanks, Justin Bieber, for making North America look bad.

The 19-year-old Bieber -- who, if I can point out, is CANADIAN -- took to Twitter on Tuesday and blamed his tardiness on "technical issues" and said he wasn't two hours late.

"Last night I was scheduled after 3 opening acts to go on stage at 935 not 830 but because of some technical issues I got on at 10:10..so... I was 40 min late to stage. there is no excuse for that and I apologize for anyone we upset. However it was great show and Im proud of that..."

Really? You ticked off the entire British Empire, and you're proud of that?

He further tweeted '...and tonight we will run on time and look forward to putting on an amazing show for everyone in attendance. 'My relationship with the media! is not a! lways easy but im trying. Im all about the music and the performance and I respect my fans."

Blame the media all you want, but at least we try using correct punctuation. Most of the time.

The O2 eventually apologized for the lateness of the show, but didn't offer any explanation as to why Bieber was late. The venue supposedly contacted ferry and train services, alerting them that fans needed transport later than was originally planned.

LAMB OF GOD SINGER ACQUITTED: Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe was acquitted Tuesday in the Czech Republic on manslaughter charges, stemming from an incident involving Blythe allegedly pushing a fan from the stage during a 2010 concert in Prague.

"I have been found not guilty & acquitted of all charges against me. I am a free man," Blythe wrote on Instagram upon leaving a Czech Republic courtroom. "Please remember the family of Daniel Nosek in your thoughts & prayers in this difficult time. I only wish for them peace. Thank you for your support."

Blythe was indicted in December for manslaughter in Prague, where he was accused of shoving 19-year-old Nosek off a stage two years earlier, causing his head injuries from which he later died.

The singer, who pleaded not guilty, faced a possible five-year sentence had he been convicted. The prosecution will reportedly appeal the verdict.

Contact Tony Hicks on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.TonyHicks, or on Twitter at twitter.com/insertfoot.

MARCH 6 IN HISTORY

Wednesday is March 6, the 65th day of 2013. There are 300 days left in the year.

1836: The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.

1857: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford ! that Scot! t, a slave, was not an American citizen and could not sue for his freedom in federal court.

1912: Oreo sandwich cookies were first introduced by the National Biscuit Co.

1933: Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, wounded in an attempt on then-President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt's life the previous month, died at a Miami hospital at age 59. 1933: A national bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt aimed at calming panicked depositors went into effect. (The holiday was supposed to last four days, but was extended until it was gradually lifted starting March 13.)

1944: U.S. heavy bombers staged the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II.

1953: Georgy Malenkov was named premier of the Soviet Union a day after the death of Josef Stalin.

1967: The daughter of Josef Stalin, Svetlana Alliluyeva, appeared at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and declared her intention to defect to the West.

1970: A bomb being built inside a Greenwich Village townhouse by the radical Weathermen accidentally went off, destroying the house and killing three group members.

1983: In a case that drew much notoriety, a woman was gang-raped atop a pool table in a tavern in New Bedford, Mass., called Big Dan's; four men were later convicted of the attack.

1988: The board of trustees at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a liberal arts college for the deaf, selected Elisabeth Zinser, a hearing woman, to be school president. (Outraged students shut down the campus, forcing selection of a deaf president, I. King Jordan, instead.)

2008: A Palestinian killed eight students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem before he was slain. Twin bombings in a shopping district in Baghdad killed at least 68 people and wounded 130 others.

2012: Former Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford was convicted in Houston of bilking his investors out of more than $7 billion through a Ponzi scheme he'd operated for 20 years. (Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison.) Six Briti! sh soldie! rs patrolling near the border between Helmand and Kandahar provinces in Afghanistan were killed by a bomb.

BIRTHDAYS

Former FBI and CIA director William Webster (89), former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (87), singer Mary Wilson (The Supremes) (69), rock musician David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) (67), actor-director Rob Reiner (66), singer Kiki Dee (66), actor Tom Arnold (54), former child actress Suzanne Crough (50), basketball great Shaquille O'Neal (41).

Associated Press