Last weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs dominated the Chicago Bears 41-10. Despite his three touchdown passes, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes wasn’t the star of the show. In fact, it wasn’t any of the players on the field.
It was Taylor Swift who captured the attention of the cameras, announcers and seemingly everyone else with a pulse. Swift, who was sitting in a suite with the mother of Chiefs star Travis Kelce, captivated the audience with nothing but her presence.
In the weeks prior to the game, rumors started to circulate that Kelce and Swift were dating. Swift’s appearance at the game all but confirmed those rumors.
It’s fun to see the birth of a relationship, especially when the two people involved are some of the most popular figures in their respective fields. However, the social media posts and news headlines that took over the news cycle for the past week have gotten very old, very quickly.
What was an exciting merger of stars has turned into this nonstop production of content that uses the same one-liners to poke fun at the newest power couple. And the media loves it — they can’t get enough.
The new couple has gotten so much attention that it seems like some of the most prominent news outlets are prioritizing pushing out material that has any and all information about Kelce and Swift.
There are actual newsworthy events that are getting pushed to the side in favor of the duo. News about the couple has become so commonplace that it’s become more of a nuisance than entertainment.
This trend is indicative of the modern state of media and media consumers across the country. Rather than focusing on important events, trivial and inconsequential headlines tend to dominate the headlines.
This is highlighted by Gannett’s — one of the largest newspaper chains in the United States — decision to hire a reporter specifically to cover Swift. Whereas publications typically have a team of reporters dedicated to covering topics like local news, sports or entertainment, there will now be a reporter at publications such as USA Today who will only focus on Swift.
The relationship has also begun to feel commercialized and seems to be used to promote the products of the two superstars. Following Swift being spotted with Kelce, Kelce’s jersey sales skyrocketed — increasing by nearly 400%.
Swift, who has a movie based on her Eras Tour in the works and a new re-recorded album coming out later this year, is also unlikely to suffer financially for this latest media stunt.
Kelce and Swift are also complicit in this. While some may think that they deserve some privacy as a couple, regardless of their stardom, neither has tried to hide from the attention.
On his podcast, New Heights, with his brother Jason Kelce, Travis was not afraid to talk about Swift’s appearance at the game. The fact that Kelce is openly discussing the topic on a platform available to the masses shows that the couple doesn’t mind exposing private details about their relationship.
It’s tough to feel sympathetic for a couple whose combined net worth is more money than most people can fathom. It’s even tougher to feel sympathetic when they themselves are indulging the public’s fascination with their private life.
Swift was also spotted supporting Kelce again in New York as Kelce and the Chiefs faced off against the New York Jets on Sunday night. To celebrate her appearance at the game, NBC aired a monologue from “The Voice” host Carson Daly explaining what all the media hype is about.
Daly did not forget to make as many references to Swift’s music as he possibly could.
While the relationship is certainly interesting and worthy of being talked about, there is a limit on how much we should be talking about it — and we’ve reached that point.
This editorial was written by Opinion C0-Editor Brett Abrams
