Usually the recipient of praise and adoration, Taylor Swift was gifted with some hate this holiday season while attending boyfriend Travis Kelce’s football game on Sunday.
Swift touched down in Massachusetts and made her way to Gillette Stadium, home to passionate New England Patriots fans, donning a Kansas City Chiefs hat and sweatshirt. When she appeared on the Jumbotron during the game, she quickly became public enemy number one to some in the crowd.
In video shared to social media, fans audibly booed Swift when they saw her on the new 22,000-square-foot screen that was built in the offseason. Also displayed on the screen was a previous quote of the singer’s, “Gillette Stadium is the most joyful place on earth.” Swift has played multiple soldout shows, including three this past spring, at the stadium in Foxborough.
One user on X suggested that Swift was predominately lauded by women but jeered at by men. “Taylor Swift makes the Jumbotron during the time out,” they wrote. “Crowd goes wild with massive cheers from ladies and discernible boos from dudes.”
Photographs from the game show multiple Swift fans dispersed throughout the stands.
A slew of opinions were offered online about the response to Swift’s attendance, with one person writing, “Men just hate seeing a successful woman.” Another wrote, “They should be cheering her. Didn’t she add billions to the American economy this year?!?!”
One user suggested that the vitriol was not personal. “Don’t assume this is aimed specifically at her. In the Patriots’ stadium, anyone looking like a Chiefs fan would get booed.”
The Patriots organization shared a video of Swift reacting to the noise, sticking out her tongue, flashing a peace sign and blowing a kiss.
Since September, Swift has appeared at nearly all the Chiefs games, home and away. Swift and Kelce first sparked dating rumors when she appeared at Arrowhead Stadium to watch the tight end play in week three. In a recent interview with TIME, Swift disclosed the timeline of their relationship, admitting they were already dating when she showed up to support him.
“By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple,” Swift explained. “I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”
Swift is aware of the attention she garners at the game, telling the outlet, “I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in,” she said of photographers. “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.”
“I’m just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and p—ing off a few dads, Brads and Chads.”
At one point during the third period, Swift got spirited and hurled an expletive when her boyfriend went down in the end zone. She appeared to yell the f-word when Kelce saw contact from Patriots’ player Myles Bryant.
Swift was accompanied by her father, Scott Swift, a longtime Philadelphia Eagles fan, who also wore Chiefs gear. Brittany Mahomes, the wife of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, joined the “Cruel Summer” singer and her father as well. Pictures showed the trio gabbing as the game kicked off.
The Chiefs defeated the Patriots 27-17.
