“They’re overdoing it a little bit, for sure, especially my situation. [But] I think they’re just trying to have fun with it,” he said, according to People. (The NFL snipped back that they were just leaning into a cultural moment.)
It shouldn’t be surprising that men have immediately started complaining about the fact that a (gasp) woman is being mentioned during their beloved NFL broadcasts, which we all know, unlike pop culture, are extremely serious matters unconcerned with frivolity. Misogynistic man-children like podcasters for Barstool Sports have attempted to also ride Swift’s coattails by making crude, sexist comments about her to try to get a rise out of people.
This sort of backlash is nothing new. Historically, famous women who date football players are treated terribly by both fans and the mainstream sports media. They blamed Jessica Simpson whenever her then beau Tony Romo didn’t play well, and Gisele Bündchen faced harassment from fans during her entire marriage to Tom Brady. The fact that Swift is, undeniably, more famous and culturally relevant than Kelce (sorry, but it’s true) is sure to mean the backlash against her will be even harsher than what those women faced.
But the truth is that right now it’s hard to literally do anything on- or offline without someone talking about Swift, making a Swift reference, or trying to shoehorn their way into the conversation.
It’s all getting to be too much. Even some Swifties will admit, anonymously of course, that they are getting a little tired of seeing Swift’s name everywhere they turn.
“I am deeply over this news cycle,” one told me. “It’s embarrassing at this point; she’s too rich and famous for this.”
In online gathering spaces like Reddit and Twitter, other women are also, cautiously, admitting that they are feeling a bit of Swift fatigue. They joke that they want to “unsubscribe” from Swift news, that they need to “mute” her from their timelines.
“You either die the hero or live long enough to admit that you have Taylor Swift fatigue,” wrote one person on Twitter.
Again, historically, none of this bodes well for Swift. Once the public starts to view a famous woman as “overexposed,” “thirsty,” or “too much,” they usually turn quickly. Just ask Anne Hathaway or Jennifer Lawrence.
Or just ask Swift herself. As those who are fluent in Swiftie lore know, she was also very overexposed in 2016 during her “1989 era.” She was doing countless pap walks with the Squad, she was breaking the internet with Hiddleswift, and she was constantly in the news. Then came the Kimye “snake” saga, which led to Swift vanishing from the public eye and then entering her “Reputation era.”
With Swift about to release 1989 (Taylor’s Version), some people have even speculated that Swift is literally re-creating the era, forcing the public to start to grow tired of her, spurring backlash that will inevitably lead to an opening for her to release Reputation (Taylor’s Version) (her mind!)
