Actor had been living in property owned by Peter Jackson but singer evicted him when she bought it: ‘That hardly puts me in Taylor Swift’s team, does it?’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

In an interview with Gay Star News, Sir Ian McKellen has said he was evicted from an apartment by Taylor Swift.

McKellen said he was staying at the apartment which was owned by the director of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, in which he played the wizard Gandalf. Swift then purchased it and had him removed.

“When I was living in Peter Jackson’s apartment in New York, Taylor Swift bought it while I was there and I was thrown out before I wanted to leave!” he said. “That hardly puts me in Taylor Swift’s team, does it?”

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Swift has become well known for her “squad”, or group of friends. Many members played a part in the video for her hit Bad Blood, including Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham and Jessica Alba.

The singer has also taken to inviting squad members on stage during her 1989 tour: such guests have included Ellen DeGeneres, John Legend, Julia Roberts and the world champion US women’s soccer team.

McKellen added: “She bought [the apartment], she had every right to – I was just lodging there for free! She did ask me to appear with Patrick Stewart at her show in LA, but I had something else to do that night.”

McKellen first showed his love for Swift in an interview with Yahoo in July, when he recited lyrics from Bad Blood. Stewart, his fellow theatrical knight and sometime co-star, also recited lyrics from a Swift song, Blank Space, in a performance on NPR.



Stewart then tweeted: “So @IanMcKellen recited Bad Blood and I did Blank Space on @NPRAskMeAnother. May we join the squad, @taylorswift13?”

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In the interview with Gay Star News, McKellen was also asked about the new film Stonewall, which is directed by Roland Emmerich and tells the story of the 1969 Stonewall riots, a historic moment in the struggle for LGBT rights.

Asked about allegations of “whitewashing” in the casting of the film, which some campaigners say ignores the role played by Latino and black people in that struggle, McKellen said “certain casting” sometimes occurs “to get the film made”.

McKellen defended Stonewall initially, saying it was “a bit early to criticize” since only the trailer had been released and trailers were “not necessarily representative of the film”. But he went on to say: “They may have had to do certain casting to get the film made.”

“The Harvey Milk film [Milk, 2008] was romanticized,” he added. “It was wonderful. I loved Pride [2014], that was romanticized, fictionalized.

“I suppose they were more attractive looking people in the film than were there in life. Does that matter?”