It wasn’t just Taylor Swift’s name trending as Super Bowl LVIII featured her boyfriend Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs taking on the San Francisco 49ers as fans both complained about and called for the broadcast to “Show Taylor Swift.”
Even before the Super Bowl LVIII kickoff, Taylor Swift had appeared twice during the broadcast, including one shot of her jamming along to Post Malone’s “America the Beautiful” with pals Ice Spice and Blake Lively. With every appearance, social media got more and more worked up.
As Swift made her way to Las Vegas from her final Tokyo show ahead of the game, the conspiracy theories on social media were reaching a tipping point. From an orchestrated Kansas City win to Travis Kelce proposing on the field to Swift publicly endorsing Joe Biden, it just got more and more elaborate.
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During every KC game that she was at once they started dating, every Swift appearance only further infuriated this certain segment of social media — which in turn delighted their opposite. After all, in a country more divided than ever, it’s just about the next thing we can be divided on.
Even when she appeared for less than a minute of total screen time across a three-plus hour game, the narrative was that Swift was always on the screen as part of some “woke” agenda. Honesty, it didn’t make much sense, which is why it so delighted their opposites online.
Hilariously, during the Super Bowl and amid expected trending names like Usher, Mahomes, Kelce and others, it wasn’t Swift’s name along that was trending, it was “Show Taylor Swift.” That says so much about why people were talking about her.
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The haters were getting frustrated every time the broadcast opted to “Show Taylor Swift,” feeding into their paranoid conspiracy theory that somehow goes all the way up to the White House. On the other side, they were hoping the broadast would “Show Taylor Swift” so the paranoid folks would go crazy online.
It’s a vicious cycle, but what else would you expect from something happening online. It can also be pretty entertaining. After all, this is just a young woman rooting on her boyfriend. Families and girlfriends are showed all the time when big moments happen with their loved on. Swift is just a whole, whole lot more famous than them.
At the same time, Swift’s appearances have actually helped the NFL by expanding the demographics of who’s tuning in, boosting merchandise sales and getting people excited about it.
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Plus, this is one of the most famous people on the planet attending these games … of course you’d turn the camera on them. And we don’t remember such an outcry every time Gisele Bündchen showed up during Tom Brady’s era.
The most common refrain is to say they’re going to play a drinking game and take a shot every time Swift is show with the joke being that they’re going to quickly pass out. As it turned out, when KC was quiet in the game, they didn’t cut to Swift much at all (i.e., the entire first half).
Maybe someday, everyone will look back on all this “Show Taylor Swift” outrage and laugh about it all. In the meantime, we’re going to laugh about it right now.
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Me watching the rigged game, the woke commercials, the terrible halftime show, Taylor Swift, and the black national anthem tonight…#SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/iQoyCyIJiM
— Big Tom Callahan🇺🇸 (@CallahanAutoCo) February 11, 2024
@CallahanAutoCo
I hope they show Taylor Swift after every play. Or maybe a split screen full time. Just to annoy people about something so meaningless
Also, Blake Lively should got ALL the camera time. Way more than Taylor…. because pic.twitter.com/uTqyKfsnhS
— Jeff Dart (@jdartute) February 11, 2024
@jdartute
Everyone was saying they show Taylor Swift too much but I’ve only seen her like twice pic.twitter.com/O5GXueVGNn
— Anne Munition (@AnneMunition) February 12, 2024
@AnneMunition
it’s bullshit they don’t show Taylor swift when the chiefs fumble the ball. that’s the reaction shot America craves
— america’s lounge singer (@KrangTNelson) February 12, 2024
@KrangTNelson
Shotgunning a can of this every time they show Taylor Swift on screen, wish me luck 🫡 pic.twitter.com/x6vCZrbEvB
— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) February 12, 2024
@RobertMSterling
Me jumping up out of my seat when they show Taylor Swift during the Super Bowl for 0.13th of a second pic.twitter.com/0WgfUl7exR
— ⭐️Nicole⸆⸉ in the darkest dark (@13LongLiveMagic) February 12, 2024
@13LongLiveMagic
if they show taylor swift again……. pic.twitter.com/yeFxfccBkn
— naana🧚🏿♀️ (@naanatweets) February 12, 2024
@naanatweets
Can the NFL cameras wait until the Chiefs score first then you show Taylor Swift rather than every single catch?
Taylor swift count meter: 7 pic.twitter.com/7ZBieW2mQG
— James (@thesaucyboss100) February 12, 2024
@thesaucyboss100
DADS BRADS AND CHADS EVERY TIME THEY SHOW TAYLOR SWIFT pic.twitter.com/lei5bgNopB
— ☆A☆ (@the13manuscript) February 12, 2024
@the13manuscript
They got Lebron in the building and they much rather show Taylor swift pic.twitter.com/f59XRb2VeV
— ™️_🌾 (@Sincerely_m0n) February 11, 2024
@Sincerely_m0n
Take a shot every time they show Taylor Swift pic.twitter.com/87tY8B24l1
— NemRaps (@NemRaps) February 12, 2024
@NemRaps
If y’all show Taylor swift one more time..😐 #SuperBowl2024 pic.twitter.com/9HIYrbo5tQ
— CUPOFTEA (@blkscrap) February 12, 2024
@blkscrap
Can they just show Taylor Swift already why are they showing these guys playing with a ball??
— Damon Fizzy␌ (@deefizzy) February 12, 2024
@deefizzy
Every 5 seconds they show Taylor Swift 😭🫤
— Jasmine Marie (@jasoxox) February 12, 2024
@jasoxox
Please don’t show TAYLOR SWIFT AT ALL. SO SICK OF HER #SuperBowl #SuperBowl2024 pic.twitter.com/ETcU5R4IAL
— Enzowzo🇨🇲🇨🇳 (@Enzoowzo1m97) February 12, 2024
@Enzoowzo1m97
Every time they show Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl tonight, I’m donating $100 to President Trumps campaign.
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) February 11, 2024
@LangmanVince
When they show Taylor Swift on my tv for .9 seconds after a touchdown pic.twitter.com/MiEltPmFig
— Not A Basketball Fan (@drewhamm5) February 12, 2024
@drewhamm5
