A passionate ESPN host came to the defense of Taylor Swift after she was criticized by NFL fans.
Stephen Smith delivered a fiery message about Swift, who is dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. The pop star has been a regular fixture at his games since going public with their relationship in September and is relentlessly filmed and photographed while cheering her man on.
Some have said this has been a distraction for Kelce and the Chiefs.
But Smith was having none of it and offered his thoughts on the Mad Dog's A-List segment on ESPN. A video of that moment was shared to X (formerly Twitter), where it has gone viral, with 1.1 million views so far.
"I have to take a moment to come to the defense of Taylor Swift. Everybody's sitting up there and acting like she's some kind of impediment and, excuse me, she did her job! That Eras Tour? Off the chain. Generated billions... Taylor Swift was phenomenal," Smith began, referring to Swift's record-breaking world tour, which has become the highest grossing of all time.
Smith went on: "She's going to support her dude. To show up at a football game and the cameras are on her - that ain't her fault! And excuse me, by the way, she went to the games after the concerts. It's not like she used the games to bump up the concerts.
"Oh no! Those kids were going to her concerts whether the NFL was promoting her or not. Taylor Swift is that girl. Let's show some respect."
Smith concluded: "She probably is gonna have a positive on Travis Kelce's performance, okay? I'm not trying to disrespect Taylor Swift."
📹| @stephenasmith defends @taylorswift13 against the criticisms of her attending Chiefs games.
— Taylor Swift Updates 🩵 (@swifferupdates) January 10, 2024
"I have to take a moment to come to the defense of Taylor Swift. Everybody's sitting up there and acting like she's some kind of impediment and, excuse me, she did her job! That Eras… pic.twitter.com/CujqQ6sM7H
Swift herself addressed the attention she receives when attending Chiefs games.
"I don't know how they know what suite I'm in. There's a camera, like, a half-mile away, and you don't know where it is, and you have no idea when the camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don't know if I'm being shown 17 times or once," she told Time magazine in December. "I'm just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I'm being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads and Chads."
Swift continued: "When you say a relationship is public, that means I'm going to see him do what he loves, we're showing up for each other, other people are there, and we don't care. The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you're seeing someone. And we're just proud of each other."
Even NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has had something to say about Swift and Kelce's relationship.
"They seem to be enjoying their relationship. That's great in and of itself, but it has connected more fans of Taylor's and more fans of the NFL in some ways," he told CBS in November. "[Swift is] an unbelievable artist, obviously Travis is an unbelievable player, and I think it's great for the league to have that kind of attention, so we welcome it."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
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