The NFL acted Swift-ly when fans started to wonder if the league was a little too happy about Travis Kelce’s Chiefs beating the Jets in front of Taylor Swift.
Shortly after the Chiefs’ controversial 23-20 victory on “Sunday Night Football” was finalized, the bio for the NFL’s official Instagram account read “chiefs are 2-0 as swifties” to acknowledge Kansas City’s record since Swift and Kelce, the All-Pro tight end, were romantically linked.
The pop icon attended both those games and gave the ubiquitous NFL a significant ratings bump.
The league also used “NFL (Taylor’s Version)” as its bio on X, formerly known as Twitter, according to the Washington Post, and wrote “we had the best day with you” in its bio along with photos of Swift.
But all those references were gone by Monday afternoon.
Why?
“We frequently change our bios and profile imagery based on what’s happening in and around our games, as well as culturally,” the league said in a statement issued to The Post. “The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce news has been a pop cultural moment we’ve leaned into in real time, as it’s an intersection of sport and entertainment, and we’ve seen an incredible amount of positivity around the sport.”
The final minutes of the game included two controversial officiating decisions that both went in favor of the Chiefs: There was no penalty called when Jets defensive lineman Jermaine Johnson was held by offensive tackle Donovan Smith as Patrick Mahomes scrambled for a first down, and then there was a flag thrown against Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner for defensive holding that negated an interception and allowed the Chiefs to convert a third-and-20.
The Post inquired regarding what prompted the quick removal of those messages, an explanation of the approval process for changes to its social media accounts, and seeking a response to the idea that league accounts that appear to be celebrating one team’s victory over another fuel conspiracy theories about the integrity of games.
“The vast majority of our content has remained focused on the game, our players and variety of other initiatives,” the league’s statement said, “including our Toy Story Funday Football alt-cast, the international games and more.”
