A Taylor Swift lookalike was escorted out of a Los Angeles store over the weekend after her appearance caused uproar among shoppers.
Ashley Leechin, 29, from Nashville, Tennessee, was swarmed by fans on Saturday when she arrived at The Grove shopping mall in Los Angeles flanked by a couple of security guards.
Dressed in blue baggy denim jeans, a cream crochet sweater, and a burgundy leather baker boy cap, Ashley certainly looked the part and wore a bold red lip as she pretended to be the Shake It Off singer.
Ashley – who has 1.6 million followers on TikTok – completed her look with a pair of black sunglasses and a red handbag as she posed for photos with fans, who clearly thought she was 33-year-old Taylor.
However, it seems the crowds may have gotten out of hand as one video shared on social media showed Ashley being ushered out of the department store by men dressed in black.
One caption on Twitter read: ‘TikToker and Taylor Swift lookalike Ashley Leechin was escorted out of a shop in Los Angeles after being mistaken for the singer by fans,’ but Ashley has since insisted that she was conducting a ‘social experiment’.
YouTuber Victor Galvan took to Instagram on Saturday and uploaded a behind-the-scenes video of their ‘experiment’.
He began the video by saying: ‘We found Taylor Swift’s twin, It’s Just Ashley! It’s a Saturday night and I don’t know what to expect, I really don’t.
‘We did a prank to see what it’s like to be Taylor Swift for one day and this is how our day went,’ Victor continued, as footage of Ashley at The Grove played out.
‘Overall, how do you feel about the day?’ Victor asked Ashley as they sat in a car together.
‘Great! I feel like it’s gone much better than I expected,’ Ashley replied as Victor told her: ‘This is where we start ramping it up now, we’re going to Downtown Disney!’
Once she arrived, Ashley was once again swarmed by fans and one person was even heard saying: ‘Hi Taylor!’
Ashley re-shared the video on her Instagram Stories and captioned it: ‘What a way to show what it’s like to live in the shoes of a well known celebrity.
‘I think this is why they hire decoys so they can go to private events and enjoy themselves without being swarmed by fans,’ she added.
However, many people were unimpressed with the prank and slammed Ashley and Victor in the comments on Instagram.
‘This is weird behavior,’ while person said, while another wrote: ‘This is just pure delusion.’
A third person claimed: ‘this is so disgusting, but this can be proof for Taylor to sue them.. especially Ashley she needs to seek help.’
And a fourth Instagram user added: ‘Taylor should sue them or get a restraining order against that Ashley,’ and a different person simply wrote: ‘This is horrible.’
Ashley responded to the ‘angry’ backlash by posting a lengthy statement on her Instagram Stories.
‘Please don’t expect me to turn off my comments, stop making content or disappear for that matter,’ she wrote.
‘It is called freedom of speech for a reason and you have as much air as you want to say what you need to say.
‘The videos surfacing are taken way out of context and I just want to say to those who have messaged me and have said very kind things, I see you and I thank you,’ Ashley continued.
‘I just hope those who are angry over speculation do not dwell on this and can eventually enjoy their day,’ she added.
Meanwhile, the real Taylor Swift spent the weekend in New Jersey with friends where she attended the wedding of Jack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley.
Jack, a music producer, and Margaret, an actress, tied the knot on Saturday at the picturesque seaside resort town of Beach Haven, New Jersey.
A array of famous faces attended the big day, including Taylor, who has worked with the groom on over 50 songs.
Taylor looked stunning in a baby blue lace dress that featured a corset-style top and a frilled skirt.
The Bad Blood hitmaker wore her hair down straight and completed her look with jeweled heels and a bold red lip as she partied with the likes of Cara Delevingne and Lana Del Rey.
Earlier this year, Ashley was slammed by some of Taylor’s fans after she claimed she was disinvited to the 2023 Grammy Awards.
In a TikTok posted on January 31, she told her followers that she was partnering up with a media company called Sweety High, who had supposedly secured her an invite to the prestigious ceremony.
However, when people took to the comments section, they accused Ashley of lying.
After making several videos about her outfit and her trip to Los Angeles, Ashley returned to TikTok and claimed that she had been disinvited to the Grammys at the very last minute, even though she’d already spent $2000 on ‘apparel, lodging, travel [and] childcare’ for her two kids.
‘I feel like it was whiplash,’ she told Insider, before adding that she was dealing with tons of people ‘telling me that I am a pathological liar’ and that she ‘should be locked up in a psych ward’.
A few weeks later, Ashley did an interview with Rolling Stone and hit out at Taylor’s fanbase for their comments.
Along with accusing her of having plastic surgery to look like the singer, some ‘Swifties’ accused Ashley of ‘stealing’ Taylor’s favourite number by putting ’13’ in her username.
Discussing the wave of online abuse, Ashley told Rolling Stone: ‘A lot of the Swifties I have encountered don’t stand by what Taylor Swift stands by.
‘Randomly bullying [someone] — I feel like Taylor Swift wouldn’t condone that type of behavior.’
As a result of the trolling, Ashley created an anti-bullying petition on Change.org where she addressed some of the most common criticism leveraged at her.
