Move over, Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter. Brandon Marshall, co-host of the I Am Athlete podcast, has entered the sports media insider foray, claiming to have an explosive insider scoop about Taylor Swift and Super Bowl LVIII.
In a clip from Marshall’s Paper Route podcast that was posted to the I Am Athlete Twitter/X feed, the former NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver is alleging that Swift, girlfriend of Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, got Kanye West kicked out of the Super Bowl after learning he bought tickets in front of her suite.
EXCLUSIVE: Brandon Marshall says Taylor Swift allegedly got Kanye West kicked out of the Super Bowl after learning he bought tickets in front of her suite đź‘€ pic.twitter.com/sqLsTTqsAg
— I AM ATHLETE (@IAMATHLETEpod) February 13, 2024
“Kanye West pulls up to Vegas,” began Marshall. “Kanye West buys a ticket right in front of Katy Perry’s booth. So, anytime they were going to be showing Katy Perry, Kanye’s face was going to be there.
If you already had doubts about this “scoop’s” validity, Marshall confused Swift for Katy Perry.
“He had a mask with his logo on the mask, right? Typical Kanye,” Marshall continued. “Taylor Swift gets pissed off. She — boom boom — makes a call or two; everybody’s involved. He gets kicked out of the stadium…He got kicked out of the stadium. He was trying to leverage her celebrity…So, now you gotta go back to their beef, him cuttin’ her off, it’s like ‘BeyoncĂ© should’ve won it,’ and years after, and just that whole relationship. But that’s what he tried to do, man. He tried to sit in front of Taylor Swift.”
A little background here via a timeline from People magazine.
Swift and West’s feud began at the VMA Awards in 2009. Following Swift’s victory for Best Female Video for “You Belong with Me” in 2009, West famously interrupted her acceptance speech with the statement, “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ma let you finish, but BeyoncĂ© had one of the best videos of all time!”
West later apologized, and their relationship appeared somewhat amicable until 2016. However, his song “Famous” from The Life of Pablo contained a controversial line referencing Swift: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b**** famous.”
In response to the uproar, the rapper claimed on social media that he had received Swift’s approval to include her name in the song after a lengthy phone call with her. Despite strong denials from those close to Swift that she had allowed West to use derogatory lyrics about her in one of his songs, a phone call recording released by West’s then-wife Kim Kardashian suggested otherwise. The recording was a significant blow to Swift’s reputation, causing her to retreat from public life for a year. However, it was later revealed that the recording had been edited to make Swift look bad.
The most recent address of their relationship came in December of last year. In a candid interview with TIME, Swift delved into her public scandal with West and Kardashian, describing it as a devastating blow to her career.
“It wasn’t just a disagreement,” she emphasized, “it felt like my entire career was yanked away.”
Swift further stated that the controversy stemmed from a manipulated and illegally recorded phone call edited by Kardashian to portray her as untruthful. The experience, she expressed, left her feeling ostracized and unfairly targeted.
While Swift’s frustration with West potentially using her brief Super Bowl appearance for his narrative is understandable, there are some doubts about the accuracy of Marshall’s report. The lack of corroborating evidence, like videos from other spectators, and West’s usual outspokenness on social media, make it seem unlikely. Certainly, such an incident would have gained more traction.
However, it’s also plausible that West could have had his own suite at the Super Bowl, negating the claim that “every time they show her, they’d see him.”
Ultimately, whether Marshall’s scoop holds any truth remains to be seen. For now, this alleged incident between Swift and West at the Super Bowl remains shrouded in speculation.
Update: A spokesperson for West denied this in comments to TMZ, saying “This is a completely fabricated rumor. It is not true.”