This past Sunday, February 11th, the 58th Super Bowl took place in Las Vegas Nevada. The two teams playing were the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. After many hours, even going into overtime, the Chiefs successfully won the Lombardi Trophy. However, instead of focusing on the game, many heartbroken fans turned to blaming Taylor Swift for the outcome of the game.
A few months ago, fans of Taylor were in for a surprise when it was confirmed that she had been dating Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce. Since then, she has been seen at 13 games Kelce’s team has played- including the recent Super Bowl. Football fans, in response, have been complaining about the amount of screen time Swift has received while cheering on boyfriend Kelce. According to the New York Times, her average screen time has been roughly 25 seconds, jumping to just about a minute at the Super Bowl.
With the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl, 49er fans were quick to defend their team and instead call the game scripted, specifically for Swift’s benefit. According to this particular brand of fan, the Chiefs winning was only because Swift scripted the game. Despite the fact that Swift is not a professional football player nor capable of rigging the biggest game of the season, hate for Swift spread like wildfire on social media.
While this is an outlandish claim, the bigger issue here is that, specifically men, are quick to blame a woman for the failings of men. To be hurt that your team lost is natural, expected even. But to blame the girlfriend of one of the players because your team lost is barely comprehensible. Further, to not be a fan of Swift is perfectly fine. To wish death on her is not. The idea here is men cannot accept that their sports team did not succeed and instead must find another reason for the team's failure. To admit that a man failed at his job is unacceptable for some groups of men.
So, while it might be hard to accept, Taylor Swift did not bribe someone to ensure that her boyfriend’s team wins the most watched live broadcast game on television.
Image Courtesy of DeepAi