Taylor Swift's favorite NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs, did not win the Super Bowl. In fact, they were dismantled by the Philadelphia Eagles. Swift was at the game to root for boyfriend Travis Kelce, a tight end with the Chiefs. KC lost 40-22 to the Eagles and Kelce was certainly not overly impactful.
What might have taken Swift aback more than anything happened before the game, though. She was shown on the Superdome screen, and the crowd loudly booed her. This was opposed to President Donald Trump who was shown on screen and was vociferously applauded. There could be a lot of reasons for this.
One is that, and let's be real here, it takes a lot of money to get a ticket to the Super Bowl. Plus, the game took place in a Southern state. Put those two together and you might have a very pro-Trump audience. This is no opinion on political beliefs, but simply a safe observation based on what happened in the 2024 presidential election.
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley stands up for Taylor Swift after Super Bowl mess
This is also an attempt to be fair to Taylor Swift, perhaps the most popular performer on the face of the planet and well-loved most places she goes. If the Superdome crowd did not like her, there is probably a truly non-Swift-related reason.
The great part is one key player the Kansas City Chiefs were facing, running back Saquon Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles, was as confused as Swifties were by Swift being booed. Like any fan, Swift was cheering for her favorite player and favorite team. To be fair, the crowd before the game did appear to be heavily in favor of the Eagles.
Barkley told Howard Stern recently, "I remember that they showed her on the jumbotron and she got booed. I don’t get it. I don’t get why she was getting hate there...She’s there supporting her significant other, and she’s made the game bigger...we’re trying to expand the game, and her being a part of it’s only helping that, so I don’t get the slack that she’s getting."
Exactly. Maybe people simply hate success. Swift is undoubtedly the most successful musical artist of the last five years, and she might continue to be. (Every performer faces an eventual push-back, unfortunately.) But she has never come across as a bad person or anything less than a true human. She might have elite talent, but she has somehow also remained one of us.
The fact is that she probably just wasn't among her people during the Super Bowl. Most of the crowd was rooting for the Eagles rather than the Chiefs. A lot of the crowd might have been pro-Trump rather than pro-Swift. The loss is the audience in the Superdome rather than Taylor Swift's.