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The discourse surrounding Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift has been undeniably insane.
It’s certainly not surprising, though, when you consider how massive the two colliding cultures are: NFL fans and “Swifties”, which is apparently what fans of Taylor Swift call themselves.
Among the many bizarre developments from the last few days — from debates about what kind of condiment (“seemingly ranch”) Taylor had with her postgame chicken tenders to people apparently thinking she was snuck out of Kelce’s suite in a popcorn machine — one of the funniest has been the way in which Swifties have been wrapping their head around the relationship.
Take this clip of Kelce from Sunday’s game, for example, which Swift fans believe shows Kelce looking up at Taylor in awe. Given how massive her fanbase is, the video has racked up over 12 million views and 26,000 likes at the time of this writing.
NFL fans, though — arguably one of the few aspects of pop culture that has more devoted followers than Swift does — were quick to chime in and point out that Kelce was, in all likelihood, just looking at a replay on the scoreboard. In comparison, that tweet has racked up 138,000 likes.
He's 100% watching a replay lmao https://t.co/INVWlLk7uL
— Nathan Marzion (@nathanmarzion) September 26, 2023
Speaking on his podcast with his brother Jason this week, Travis opened up about the experience of having Swift come to a Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium to watch him play.
“Shout out to Taylor for pulling up. That was pretty ballsy. I just thought it was awesome how everyone in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her,” Kelce said.
“She looked amazing, everybody was talking about her in a great light. On top of that, the day went perfect for Chiefs fans of course. We script it all ladies and gentlemen. It was just impressive.”
In his first game playing in front of Swift, which certainly has to add a bit of pressure, Kelce reeled in seven catches for 69 yards and a touchdown.
Given that Swift’s behemoth, multi-billion-dollar-grossing Eras Tour is currently on break until November, it’ll be interesting to see how many of Kelce’s games she’ll pop up at.
This weekend, for example, the Chiefs will be in New York City to take on the Jets for Gang Green’s first Sunday Night Football matchup in over a decade.
With Swift being the runaway train of a PR machine that she is, and with a concert film set to hit theaters in a couple of weeks, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see her at MetLife Stadium, either.