“Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce make appearances at the Super Bowl” – DW – 02/09/2024
When the Kansas City Chiefs take to the field to defend their Super Bowl title against the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on Sunday, pop megastar Taylor Swift is planning to be in the stands to cheer on her partner, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Since it became known that the two are a couple, there has been a lot of hype about Swift and her visits to Chiefs games. She could be battling jetlag by the time she gets to the Super Bowl, as she is giving a concert in Tokyo on Saturday night.
Their very public love affair has led some to make some rather dubious claims – and others to believe them and spread them even further.
Did Taylor Swift make fun of the Baltimore Ravens?
Claim: Taylor Swift wore a T-shirt on a concert stage that read “Who’s the Ravens anyway? Ew.”
Background: The Baltimore Ravens are the team the Chiefs beat in the AFC Conference Championship game – to reach the Super Bowl.
DW fact check: Fake.
The short video clip showed what the T-shirt really says: “Who is Taylor Swift anyway? Ew.” It was posted in March 2023 and shows what the T-shirt really says: “Who is Taylor Swift anyway? Ew.”
Thousands of “Swifties”, as fans of the pop icon call themselves, already knew this because they had seen her wearing the T-shirt on stage during the Eras Tour, Swift’s sixth concert tour. Swift wears the T-shirt during “22,” a song about a night of partying. At one point, a voice from the background interjects: “Who is Taylor Swift anyway? Ew.”
However, the fake referring to the outcome of the AFC Conference Championship game may also seem plausible, as the Chiefs had little trouble with the Ravens in their 17-10 win. Couldn’t Swift have in fact worn a T-shirt with different wording at one of her concerts?
In addition to the original video, the fact that the timing doesn’t add up is another argument against this possibility. Swift put her concert tour on pause following a stop in South America at the end of November. It was only this week that she resumed her tour with concerts in Japan. However, the AFC Conference Championship game was played on January 28 and the video was posted on February 4.
Did the megastar have a police escort to an NFL game?
Claim: Taylor Swift was escorted to an NFL stadium by the police. This was suggested in another posting on X
DW fact check: False.
The video shows former US President Donald Trump on his way to a primary in Des Moines, Iowa.
The original video was distributed by Trump’s deputy communications director, Margo Martin, on January 14 via X with the caption: “President @realDonaldTrump arrives in Des Moines!” A day later, the Republican Party in Iowa held its caucuses. The video also shows a road sign with the inscription “George Flagg.” The “George Flagg Parkway” is the road that leads from the airport to downtown Des Moines.
Whoever sought to link the video to Taylor Swift and her newfound passion for football, didn’t even go to the trouble of digitally manipulating it. They simply posted it – with a misleading caption. Below the video there is a direct link to the original post by Margo Martin.
Did Taylor Swift pose half-naked among football fans?
Claim: Numerous pictures are circulating that allegedly show Taylor Swift painted red and wearing nothing but a thong amid thousands of Kansas City Chiefs fans.
DW fact check: Fake.
There is no evidence that Taylor Swift has ever put herself in such a situation and allowed herself to be photographed. Even without tools, you can ask yourself the question: How can it be that there are only a few, heavily staged “pictures” of the scene? Wouldn’t at least a handful of the tens of thousands of stadium visitors have documented it with their cell phones and posted them online?
There is also plenty of evidence that all these images were generated using artificial intelligence. Some details appear distorted, numbers are displayed incorrectly, and body parts end up in unnatural positions. We previously published a detailed fact-check article on this.
This article was originally published in German.