John Mayer's 'please be kind' post may not have been about the 'Speak Now (Taylor's Version)' release, but Swifties sure think it was

• John Mayer shared a photo on Thursday of a message written in the sky: "Please be kind."
• The phrase is featured at Dead & Company concerts as a nod to the band's original lineup.
• Regardless, Swifties flooded Mayer's comment section with references to "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)."

John Mayer unwittingly summoned a horde of Swifties on Thursday when he shared a simple message online: "Please Be Kind."

The message sat at the end of a slideshow that Mayer shared on Instagram. The photo shows that it was written in the sky at the recent Dead & Company concert in Boulder, Colorado, as part of the band's elaborate drone show.

The phrase is a nod to the band's original lineup. When the Grateful Dead played their final show in 2015, percussionist Mickey Hart closed the performance by telling the crowd, "I'll leave you with this: Please, be kind."

Later that year, three members of the band decided to reform as Dead & Company and join forces with Mayer, who joined their touring lineup.

Dead & Company's official Instagram also shared a photo of the "Please Be Kind" drone formation, so it's probably safe to assume that Mayer was not making a subtle reference to any other pop star.

However, Mayer made the mistake to share the photo mere hours before Taylor Swift was set to release "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," a rerecording of her third album that was originally released in 2010.

—Okay, English major. (@space_femalien) July 7, 2023

Mayer is already closely associated with "Speak Now." The fifth track, titled "Dear John," is widely interpreted as a postmortem of Swift's relationship with Mayer. They dated briefly in 2009, when he was 32 years old and she was 19.

To make matters more suspicious (to a Swiftie's eye, at least), the "Please Be Kind" message shared by Mayer was underlined with purple lights, the color most associated with "Speak Now." He also included the word "afterglow" in his caption, which is the title of one of Swift's songs.

Swift's fans quickly flooded the comment section of Mayer's post, writing things like "Bad day to be posting the color purple," "i wasnt enchanted to see this post," and "she was 19. you were 32. THE MATH AINT MATHIN JOHNNY."

Other commenters said they were "disobeying mother," alluding to Swift's request not to cyberbully any of her exes.

"I'm not putting this album out so you can go on the internet and defend me against someone you think I wrote a song about 14 million years ago," she said during a stop on the Eras Tour, just before introducing "Dear John" as her surprise song for the night.