‘What did Taylor do to him?’: Misogynistic football fans are trying to blame Taylor Swift for Travis Kelce’s lackluster performance

Misogynistic football fans have reached a low as they blame Taylor Swift for Chiefs’ tight-end Travis Kelce’s poor performance at the start of the football season.

Although the Kansas City Chiefs won their first two games of the season, Kelce contributed little to the victories. Across the starting games, he only mustered four catches for 39 receiving yards. Both Kelce and Cheif’s quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, suggested that the explanation for his performance was the defense and that he had fewer opportunities to make his plays. However, even he admitted that it wasn’t an excuse and that he could be playing better and working harder.

There could be any number of reasons for Kelce’s performance, ranging from the defense to the fact that he may be nearing retirement. After all, he’s 34, while the average NFL football retirement age is just under 28. He could be feeling the toll of his professional football career, or his celebrity lifestyle could be contributing to his struggles. Recently, Kelce has been branching out from football, delving into acting and making his stage debut at Swift’s The Eras Tour. Former ESPN analyst Todd McShay’s blunt opinion was that Kelce was just “out of shape” from “partying all offseason.” However, some NFL fans aren’t comfortable holding Kelce accountable for his performance and have decided to blame Swift instead.

Why are football fans blaming Taylor Swift for Travis Kelce’s performance?

Ever since Swift started dating Kelce over a year ago, she has dealt with the toxicity of misogynistic football fans. NFL fans have repeatedly accused her relationship of being a PR stunt and became enraged that the cameras would sometimes show her in the audience at games. After she broke history at the Grammys last year, social media and news outlets were bizarrely preoccupied with the fact that she didn’t thank Kelce for her success in her acceptance speech. Now, they claim that Kelce’s lack of success is due to Swift.

In addition to Kelce’s poor performance, images circulated on the internet of the player looking downcast during his most recent game. Viewers dubbed him “Sad Travis Kelce” and speculated about why he looked so forlorn. Although women tend to get criticized for not smiling or carefully controlling their facial expressions, reports quickly cropped up about how “concerned” fans were that Kelce looked sad. Of course, their thoughts quickly went to Swift. Numerous media outlets noted that Swift had “skipped” the game in which Kelce appeared forlorn, implying that the two things were related.

Others went further and began suggesting that Swift was making Kelce miserable. Numerous dramatic posts arose, questioning, “What the hell did Taylor do to him?” Another user suggested that his sadness and poor performance were the result of Swift “emasculating” him. Football fans claimed that Swift “changed” Kelce, even going as far as to hold her responsible for his new haircut. Some users just started posting memes to represent Swift blowing up Kelce’s NFL career.

It’s strange how some football fans believe Kelce’s lousy performance was because Swift missed the game. Even if this theory were true, it should reflect more poorly on Kelce than Swift. After all, Swift can perform most of her concerts without Kelce’s presence, and one can easily imagine the mockery she would face if a bad concert performance were blamed on her boyfriend’s absence. Meanwhile, the theory that Swift is “emasculating” Kelce or bringing him down is simply ridiculous. There’s no evidence whatsoever that Swift is causing any sadness or misery in Kelce’s life. Also, even if this theory were true, most people can’t use relationship problems as an excuse for performing poorly in their careers.

Kelce is a grown man and doesn’t need his girlfriend to take the fall for his performance. He can accept accountability for his lackluster performance and work harder in the future. People do not need to search for excuses for him, especially since this same grace is rarely offered to women when mistakes are made. It’s time to stop blaming women for men’s lack of success and to stop generating misplaced pity for grown men in consensual, seemingly happy relationships.