Taylor Swift to take South Jersey teen to the ACM awards
Taylor Swift has asked leukemia patient Kevin McGuire to be her date at a country music awards show.
Taylor Swift to take South Jersey teen to the ACM awards
Molly Eichel, Daily News Staff Writer
Country music doyenne Taylor Swift is all about living the fairy tale. Today, she's making a fairy tale for one South Jersey teen suffering from cancer.
Kevin McGuire, who is battling leukemia, asked Swift to the prom at Sterling Regional High School, in Somerdale, Camden County. Swift unfortunately couldn't make it. “Kevin, I'm so sorry but I won't be able to make it to your prom,” Swift posted on her Facebook page. “But I was wondering, the ACM Awards are coming up.. Would you be my date?”
Instead, she did the next best thing: Swift invited McGuire to be her date for the Academy of Country Music Awards April 1 in Las Vegas.
Everybody now: "Awwww!"
McGuire is being treated for a relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He was first diagnosed with leukemia when he was 13.
His sister, Victoria, cooked up the idea to have Swift attend McGuire’s prom and a Facebook page dedicated to the cause had nearly 90,000 members as of yesterday.
“I tried thinking of a kind person who would make me feel OK. And laugh,” he said. “A person who would look amazing, and the one person who would make me feel special for one night. It was her.”
Comments (41)
I'm not a country music fan, but this girl seems to do everything perfectly. Good for her. (and for Kevin McGuire)- Class move.— dogman5
- I was not a Taylor Swift fan yesterday. I am today. She has my vote for America's official Sweetheart. Congrats Kevin— Awwwww
- The pressure must be immense for celebs to feel obligated to help people. Could she just say no? Obviously not.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- You are 100% correct, it is just wrong. I have a cousin in a similar situation and we do what we can for him. A dream of going to a certain place is great. But this public pressuring of celebrities is wrong. What if 300 kid's families start asking her? — JonKap
- It's nice to hear some good news for a change. Good for Kevin!
— lmrg21 - She could have said NO; because she is a better person than you, AvoidSundanceVacations, she asked him for a different date.— allylloyd
- Stop, he is 100% correct. — JonKap
- agree with JonKap and Avoidsundancevacations... it is not fair to ask celebrities to accomodate all of these requests. I feel bad for kevin but at the same time,there are thousands of kids in the same predicament. Would you think less of her if she said no? Is it her responsibility to personally respond to every person who has an unfortunate circumstance? what if someone had the same request but only had 10,000 people like their facebook page? is that person less deserving. — pdever14
- FYI, the prom is June 1. Taylor's ACM is April 1 BEFORE the prom. At the ACM, he'll be able to meet a lot more celebs I bet he's a fan of.
— cadguy 
Comment removed.- Avoid, you can't take something good away from someone just because the pressure was there. She may have said no without the pressure, but she may have said yes. Regardless, she did a good thing and that's the positive out of the situation. Trying to make excuses for why someone else does something good only makes insecurities visible. That and you rob the person of confidence, if they look up to you (i.e. Please don't do that to your kids if you have, or plan on having any).— MFPhils
- God Bless them both. She is a star. I hope this helps him onto a speedy road to recovery.— BillyBob369
- Way to go Mikey Miss.— Yodude2
- I am not a big country fan (although I do love Patsy Cline)but this kid is something special. I am talking about both of them. Taylor Swift is a very special gal. She makes everywhere she goes look good. I would say with regard to this obvious star, she is a class act. This is a win, win, win. Philly isnt that much of a country icon, but she is our hometown girl. Don't change a thing, girl, just grow and keep showing us what you've got.— OldSouthPhilly
- Kevin I hope your treatments improve your health. What a nice gesture Taylor swift made this should help lift your spirts....One day at a time and my peace and good health be with you.....One day at a time.— merchandiser
- I am not a big country fan (although I do love Patsy Cline)but this kid is something special. I am talking about both of them. Taylor Swift is a very special gal. She makes everywhere she goes look good. I would say with regard to this obvious star, she is a class act. This is a win, win, win. Philly isnt that much of a country icon, but she is our hometown girl. Don't change a thing, girl, just grow and keep showing us what you've got.— OldSouthPhilly
- Awesome!— swimfishie
- A truly classy and heartfelt choice by Taylor Swift ... I have a ton of respect for her by reaching out to Kevin this way.— Wally Ritchie
- wow, this tops her giving al those books to the Reading Library. Berks County Pride! it is true that its kind of wrong to try to guiltpressure celebrities into doing things, but still classy of her...
— jim715 - will there be a "happy ending" to this story?— TheRevoltionWillNotBeTelevised
- Kid asks, celeb can say 'No.' And actually, she did. She just upped the ante for him! Get better Kevin, and enjoy the night. And good on you, Taylor.— verve
- I bet she gives him some too.— Tyrone Biggums
- why? — John Nett
- Ms.Swift as an enertainer you are pretty good, as a human being you are exceptional,I like the way you conduct yourself in your every day life. God Bless you and your family. fellow Berks Countian.— John Nett
- Wai wai waitta minute.......hold your horses. It's not a real date unless she lets him get to like 3rd base (those are the rules, Taylor — you know it, I know it). Gotta take one for the record label, girl. If you let our home-boi Kev slide into third (you can always have your publicist deny it as a vicious TMZ rumor), I'll buy a few of your stupid mp3's on iTunes even though I promised Eddie van Halen back in 1983 I would never get psycho on him and Ozzy and do something like that.— URANIUM235
I feel sorry for these celebrities. This is not the first time it has happened when someone calls them out like this. IF they refuse then people will look at them like they are the bad guy.— duh66- Hey lets use our terminal illness to exploit celebs into fake dates.— LDPhilly
- I do not like the way people are using social media to pressure or blackmail celebrities in to this kind of situation. It is obnoxious and unfair. They typically comply so not to look heartless and receive negative press. Of course I am sure Taylor Swift is a good person and might do this anyway, I feel that it means more if it is more organic.— zippy1346
- nothing like a little public arm twisting to shame a celebrity into doing something they should not be exppected to, a good PR move though.— coadyp
- Good luck Kevin - Just remember that Miss Swift has been known to write some wonderfully entertaining songs about ex-boyfriends, so be careful...— Dragon76
- ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! God Bless Kevin- May he get well.— mrjarn
- It's a shame the family had to shame Taylor Swift into doing this. It's one thing when a celebrity instigates something like this themselves, but it's not very nice when a celebrity has to be forced to do something to avoid public humiliation.— ej610
- A really very nice thing for her to do.....A big time wealthy star trying to help someone feel a little bit better about thier life......Just think if every ego driven diva in Hollywood or the Sports world would reach out to us real people.....and spread some love, some money and some time.....It certainly would not change their wealth, AND FINALLY THERE WOULD BE A REASON TO LOOK UP TO THEM BESIDES A TALENT THAT THEY WERE BORN WITH AND HAVE MILKED FOR THIER OWN PERSONAL SUCCESS....— nuggett
- Good......Still would like her to see her go to the Dance with him. She's doing this so SHE will be in a safe place. Guess her people don't think the school would beable to give enough security.— DocPhillyfan
- Also: Goota say she's turning out to be easy on the eye's.....Smoking Legs!!!!— DocPhillyfan
- to all the posters who think its wrong to use social media to "pressure" or "guilt" a celebrity into doing something good i have a question. hate much? sounds like jealousy to me. social media is for the most part a huge waste of time and does more harm on any given day than good. so go back to posting on facebook how big your new puppy is getting or some obscure song lyrics because everyone is fascinated. lol— poorcarole
- What a wonderful decision by someone with a heart and living her faith. (SHAME on all of you who criticize this act of kindness!)— MooseBreathMints
- "social media is for the most part a huge waste of time and does more harm on any given day than good. so go back to posting on facebook how big your new puppy is getting or some obscure song lyrics because everyone is fascinated." (@poorcarole)
i just had to re-post that again.......because it's so TRUE. i'd only add that the best time to post is when you're behind the wheel of a two ton vehicle. don't worry about the rest of us, we understand what you're texting is just soooo important..........
btw, kudos to ms swift. class act— justintime73 - The point here, IMHO, is that we don't need to celebrate another celebrity gone diva but a cool person who demonstrates that hard work, being the best you can be, and really caring about others is the way to reach your dreams ; Taylor is that person and her fans, America,
and the world can be proud of her for it ;
— Jeff Scott
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