Debunking The Rumors Taylor Swift Was Banned From The Super Bowl
When you're as famous as Taylor Swift, you can't even blink without 10,000 trolls condemning you for it — or thinking it's all part of some convoluted plan. Of all the bizarre conspiracy theories swirling about Swift, one of the weirdest from far-right Republicans is that Swift is a political rival for Donald Trump and has worked with the Pentagon as an asset (completely untrue, by the way). New speculation about Swift that hit the internet is that the songstress is banned from the 2024 Super Bowl.
Swift has attended many Kansas City Chiefs games during the 2023-2024 football season due to her relationship with the team's tight end Travis Kelce. When the Chiefs secured a spot at the Super Bowl, a website called Esspots published a satirical piece about how Swift would be banned from the event with the NFL's reason being, "We're tired of Taylor Swift." The satire doesn't really work — the piece makes it seem like Swift could be booted as the halftime show performer, but she never had that gig. Usher is slated to perform at halftime.
A Facebook post sharing the Esspots article's headline was met with a wide range of comments, with some people agreeing with the idea of Swift being banned and others unhappy with the thought. In a sad display of limited media literacy, no one seemed to understand the headline wasn't based in truth.
Taylor Swift has been lucrative for the NFL and the Chiefs
Taylor Swift being barred from the Super Bowl is highly unlikely. Front Office Sports reported stats provided by the Apex Marketing Group, who calculated the singer "generated an equivalent brand value of $331.5 million for the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL" by attending Travis Kelce's games. Viewership for the league increased too, for women and men.
In an interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro, The Ringer writer Nora Princiotti discussed the intersection of Swift and the NFL. She mentioned how the NFL has tried bringing in more female fans with limited success in the past. "They have sort of stumbled into this, like, hyper-influencer who's doing a lot of that work for them really well," Princiotti said. She also calculated that Swift could attend the Super Bowl on February 11, 2024, after her February 10 concert in Tokyo because of time zones.
Even though Swift will likely be welcomed into the Super Bowl and any other future NFL events, it won't stop more wild conspiracy theories from spreading across the internet. On X, formerly known as Twitter, former Republican nominee for the 2024 election Vivek Ramaswamy replied to a tweet about Swift and snarked, "I wonder who's going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there's a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let's see how it ages over the next 8 months." Wild is right.