Philadelphia Eagles fans are historically very passionate people, which means they love their team hard and hate opposing teams and their fans, even harder. When superstar singer Taylor Swift, who is dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, was shown on the big screen at Caesars Superdome during Super Bowl LIX, loud “boos” could be heard throughout the stadium.
Not long ago, Swift set the Superdome’s attendance record during the Eras Tour, with fans screaming lyrics to her songs both inside the stadium and in the parking lot, but this was not as warm of a welcome.
Eagles fans clearly have some bad blood with the 14-time Grammy winner, who despite growing up a birds fan, is now part of Chiefs Kingdom. Kelce reportedly, and unsurprisingly, wasn’t a fan of the reaction to Swift. The singer appeared to shake off the hate, though, looking sideways and appearing to mouth, “What’s going on,” while the crowd erupted.
It wasn’t just Chiefs players who had a problem with the negative reaction, as an Eagles player said he didn’t appreciate it either. Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley said he didn’t understand why it happened.
“I remember that they showed her on the Jumbotron and she got booed,” Barkley said, via an interview with Howard Stern, following the Eagles’ dominant 40-22 victory over the Chiefs. “I don’t get it. I don’t get why she was getting hate there.”
Swift has brought in many more fans to the NFL and Barkley wants people to focus on the impact she’s had on growing the game, rather than the team she supports or who she is dating.
“She’s there supporting her significant other and she’s made the game bigger,” Barkley said. “We’re all about, in football, we’re all about how can we expand the game and make it more internationally and we’re traveling to Brazil and we’re traveling to Mexico, and apparently we’re traveling to Australia soon, so we’re trying to expand the game and her being a part of it’s only helping that, so I don’t get the slack that she’s getting.”
This is Barkley’s first year experiencing what it’s like to be on the good side of Philly fans, after playing his entire career up to this season on the Eagles’ divisional foe New York Giants.
“They just shower you with love,” Barkley said of Eagles fans. “And it’s been pretty cool for me and my family ’cause kind of how things ended in New York, there was always love and support there, but things didn’t end off on a great note, I guess you could say. And to be able to come here and just the way how they’ve taken me in and my family in, and my daughter is the star here. They love my little daughter. So it’s been pretty cool.”
Barkley was a key piece to this offense’s success all season, breaking the record for most yards from scrimmage in a season (including the postseason) and is now beloved in the City of Brotherly Love.
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