BOULDER, Colo. — It's a safe bet we'll see Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl this Sunday, cheering on her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. And it's a safe bet that will make some NFL fans really angry.
"For me a lot of the more interesting things happening are in the comments section," said Jamie Skerski, an associate teaching professor in communications at CU Boulder.
And for much of the NFL season, Swift has been in the comments of men all around the country.
"I see the memes of 'I want to squirt hot sauce in my eye every time I see her on screen.' My brother sent that to me," Skerski said. "For me I was like, what is it that seeing her on television -- it's like it's painful for them."
"Most of them, admittedly, don't know anything about her," Skerski said. "But they just don't get it and they're sort of offended by her existence even if it's only for 25 seconds in a broadcast that they have been conditioned to think is for them."
The intersection of two different fandoms has been battling it out every time we see the Chiefs play.
"In part, she symbolizes a woman who is powerful, successful and she hasn't backed down to the criticism," Skerski said.
Others claim she's a distraction from the game.
"You talk about fantasy football, you talk about the sports betting. So the men that are reacting are not worried about being distracted by their sportsbook or their fantasy team, so what is it about this woman being shown for -- you know the New York Times just did a thing -- maybe 26 seconds, one minute most in three hours," Skerski said. "So the distraction frame, that isn’t tied to the reality.”
Skerski said Swift's presence and epic reach call into question for fans: just who is this game really for?
"The commercials, the sportsbooks, the fantasy sports, even the military flyovers are for the male fan. And Taylor Swift is not for them. And they don't like it," Skerski said.
Skerski said seeing a player like Kelce happily take a backseat to Swift's stardom challenges gender roles in relationships -- a harsh wake-up call for some NFL fans. And while Swift may never hear their harsh words, derogatory comments and spiteful sayings -- wives, sisters and daughters will.
"The same guys who might defame Taylor Swift being on the screen are the same ones to hashtag #GirlDad when they’re playing catch with their daughter in the backyard," Skerski said. "You cannot social media advocate for being a Girl Dad if you're going to simultaneously engage in discourse and practices that tell your daughters and sons that women's success should be dismissed or is not important."
While this furor over Swift may die down soon after Super Bowl Sunday, Skerski said understanding why it exists tells us a lot more about ourselves and our culture than it ever will about Swift.
"The reactions and the vitriol and the feigned rage has nothing to do with the football part and more to do with what Taylor and Travis Kelce signal about the future of America," Skerski said.
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