Chile's elected president of the millennium, Gabriel Boric, has garnered favor at his first international event: supporting pop music superstar Taylor Swift on a songwriting credential with Blur front man Damon Albarn in a social media stand-off.
Gorillaz' British co-founder and songwriter Albarn suggested that Swift not write all of her songs in a media interview, leading to the U.S. Albarn later apologized.
Boric, 35, extended his support to Swift in a tweet that quickly went viral in her country, showing how former student protest leaders are shaking up politics in Chile, traditionally the South American most straight-laced country.
"You have a huge group of supporters here in Chile who know you write your songs from the heart," Boric, a self-proclaimed Swift fan, posted to his 1.4 million Twitter followers. The tweet had garnered 66,000 likes.
"The south hugs Taylor," said Boric, who will become Chile's youngest democratically elected president when he takes office in March.
Swift herself hit back at Albarn on Twitter.
The 32-year-old singer wrote, "I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this. I write all my songs myself. Your hot take is completely false and hurtful."
Albarn, 53, made his foreign minister.
He said, "I completely agree with you. I had a conversation about song-writing and sadly it was reduced to click bait. I apologize unconditionally and unconditionally. Last thing What I want to do is defame your song-writing," he said
Boric's team did not respond to a request for comment.