Elon Musk to Beyonce to Kardashian: full list of celebrities named in Taylor Swift's lawsuit

Taylor Swift is once again facing legal action from Florida-based artist Kimberly Marasco, who filed a second copyright infringement lawsuit earlier this year.

The new complaint, submitted in February, alleges that Swift copied original creative elements from Marasco's poems and artworks without credit or permission.

While Swift is named alongside collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner-as well as her record labels Universal Music Group and Republic Records-the lawsuit also includes references to several other celebrities, though none of them are being sued.

This marks the second time Marasco has brought legal claims against Swift. Her first lawsuit in 2024, filed against Swift and Taylor Swift Productions, resulted in Swift being dismissed as a defendant, though the claims against her production company remain active.

Marasco's claims extend beyond Swift to broader music industry figures

In this latest legal filing, Marasco expands her argument by citing a wider group of celebrities-not as defendants, but as contextual comparisons made during the litigation process.

These include Beyonce, Chaka Khan, Brad Paisley, Lady Gaga, Elon Musk and even Kim Kardashian, whose name appears in a court exhibit tied to Swift's lyrics.

Taylor Swift

Marasco asserts that songs and videos from Lover, Folklore, Midnights, and The Tortured Poets Department include "creative elements" lifted from her poems. This includes tracks like "The Man," "Down Bad," "Illicit Affairs," and "Death by a Thousand Cuts."

Jack Antonoff & Aaron Dessner

Both producers are named as co-defendants due to their songwriting contributions to the works in question. Antonoff is tied to "Down Bad" and "Illicit Affairs," while Dessner is listed for "Hoax" and other tracks from Folklore.

Beyonce

While not a defendant, Marasco references Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" after defense attorneys allegedly compared it to Marasco's poem Ordinary Citizen. Marasco pushed back, writing: "Beyonce is describing a boy in the world (not in an office setting)... This is a completely different context and does not contain any similarities."

Chaka Khan

Similarly, Marasco criticized a comparison between her poem and Khan's "A Woman in a Man's World." She stated that Khan's lyrics refer to the entertainment industry, which differs entirely from the personal storm metaphor she says she used in her poem.

Elon Musk

Musk appears in the filing as the subject of one of Marasco's poems, Elon=MC2, which she says described him as a genius. She alleges Swift's lyric from "Mastermind" ("To assess the equation of you") is "eerily similar" to her metaphor equating Musk to a mathematical formula.

Brad Paisley

Swift's song "Midnight Rain" is said to echo themes from Marasco's poem Delusional Reality. Marasco rejected comparisons to Paisley's "Perfect Storm," explaining that Paisley's track describes a romantic partner's duality, while her work explores being overtaken by personal turmoil.

Elton John

Marasco also addressed comparisons made to "Candle in the Wind," arguing that it bears "no similarity" to her writing and exists in a completely different emotional context.

Kim Kardashian

Though not named directly in the lawsuit, Kardashian appears in a court exhibit discussing Swift's track "thanK you aIMee." The title, which fans believe is a reference to Kardashian, uses capital letters that spell "KIM." Marasco disputed this interpretation, pointing to lyrics such as "A song that only us two is gonna know is about you," and arguing that "obviously it cannot be solely about Kim K."

Lady Gaga

In another exhibit, Marasco alleged that a promotional pose by Lady Gaga bore a "striking resemblance" to a sketch featured on one of her book covers. She said this serves as indirect evidence that her work had visibility within the music industry.