Taylor Swift is getting her girl cooties all over the NFL.
The pop superstar’s flavor of the moment seems to be Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, which has prompted Swift to attend two of his games.
The first was on Sept. 24, when the Chiefs trounced the Chicago Bears. Swift’s attendance seemed to support rumors that she was dating Kelce, although neither party has publicly confirmed their relationship. Nonetheless, her mere presence at the game eclipsed the sporting event itself.
So on Sunday, when Swift attended the Chiefs’ game against the New York Jets with a few celebrity friends in tow, including Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, all eyes — and cameras — were on Swift.
Fully aware of Swift’s PR power, the NFL even used three photos of the “You Belong with Me” singer’s reactions during the game as its background image on its X account on Monday.
Screenshot @NFL via X/Twitter.
And although Swift’s apparent romance with a beloved Super Bowl champ does reek a bit of a publicity stunt (perhaps to distract from her previous romantic entanglement with a racist) — some of the backlash she’s received from NFL fans also reeks of sexism and far-right values.
Media Matters found that dozens of conservative pundits have attacked Kelce for appearances in Pfzier and Bud Light ads that they interpret as a sign of his support for COVID-19 vaccines and LGBTQ+ rights. Swift’s left-leaning politics, meanwhile, have encouraged some on the right to resort to grade-school insults, flat-out criticizing her appearance and labeling Kelce a less-dominant “beta” male.
Yet the bulk of the attacks seem to come from people who just seem annoyed that Swift is distracting from the brutal and hyper-masculine sport of football. When the Chiefs played the Jets on Sunday, the hashtag “Enough Taylor Swift” began to trend on X.
Some social media users have even gone as far as suggesting the NFL rigged the Chiefs vs. Jets game in the Chiefs’ favor to appease Swift’s fans and boost ratings.
Interestingly enough, right-wing commentator Tomi Lahren chimed in on X about all the “Traylor” coverage, even though she admits in the same post that she’s not even a football fan.
Yet other social media users are calling out the right-leaning nonsense and defending Swift.
And if you happen to be someone who is on the fence about Swift’s attendance at NFL games, there does seem to be one huge benefit: