Charles Barkley and Bob Costas highlighted the absurdity of the far right’s tumultuous relationship with Taylor Swift as she heads to the Super Bowl.
Wednesday night, Charles Barkley and Gayle King were joined by Bob Costas on their CNN show King Charles. During the segment, Barkley and Costas both rebuked the growing criticism of Swift’s NFL fandom that was spawned by her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
“I’m gonna look right in that camera, if you’re screaming at Taylor Swift saying she ruined [football], you’re just a loser,” Barkley ranted to kick off the segment. “You’re just a loser or a jackass, one of the two.”
“If you’re screaming at Taylor Swift saying she ruined [football], you’re just a loser. You’re just a loser or a jackass.” – Charles Barkley pic.twitter.com/fhah8fjCjz
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 1, 2024
During the three hour and nine-minute AFC Championship Game broadcast, Swift was on camera for a total of 44 seconds. But that’s enough for some people to claim she’s ruining football, despite musicians and entertainers luring non-football fans to the Super Bowl for decades.
Costas joined Barkley in calling out the hate being directed at Swift, noting how much the NFL’s audience grows for the Super Bowl with a large percentage of people tuning in solely for the commercials or halftime show. But let’s be real here, the underlying issue many Swift-haters have isn’t that she takes away from the X’s and O’s of the game, it’s that she might eventually advocate to keep a Democrat in the White House.
“So, for people all of a sudden because they don’t like something about Taylor Swift. Either they don’t like the Chiefs or they’ve inferred that Taylor Swift might not be a Trumper,” Costas said. “Then they’re annoyed by Taylor Swift. I can guarantee you, that all this news at Fox News would not be happening if she was wearing a MAGA hat. They would love it.”
No one could have predicted the impact Swift was going to have on the NFL before this season kicked off. And even as Swift entered the NFL world, no one would have predicted to see her impact take such a bizarre a political turn. But here we are, as right-wing media figures target Swift with wild conspiracy theories, alleging her relationship with Travis Kelce was artificially arranged and the NFL season was rigged for the Chiefs, all in an effort to push Democrat propaganda.
How come cable news never panicked and crafted conspiracy theories when Gisele Bündchen attended Tom Brady’s NFL games years ago? Perhaps it was Brady’s MAGA hat.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com