The NFL on Monday faced some backlash over a bizarre — if not cringeworthy — addition to the one of the league’s official social media pages.
Following the Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the New York Jets on Sunday night, a line was added to the league’s official Instagram bio that read “chiefs are 2-0 as swifties.” That, of course, was a reference to the Chiefs being 2-0 since Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift began dating. Swift attended Sunday night’s game and Kansas City’s game against the Chicago Bears last week.
“2-0 as swifties”#NFL might be milking it too much now. pic.twitter.com/0BGPGqHVL0
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) October 2, 2023
Fans understandably went crazy. Members of the media also felt the stunt was a bad look for the NFL, which is not supposed to show any bias or favoritism with certain teams. It was not long before the line was removed.
Wow: The #NFL removed “chiefs are 2-0 as swifties” from their bio.
I guess they saw the backlash. pic.twitter.com/BgFqEyGEIu
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) October 2, 2023
The higher-ups at the NFL probably cringed like the rest of us when they saw that. Giving the Chiefs and their new super fan a shoutout would have already been a questionable move from the NFL, let alone after a game where Kansas City benefitted from some big controversial calls.
The NFL is getting as much mileage as possible out of Kelce dating Swift and Swift attending games. There are even reasons to believe the league helped set the whole arrangement up as part of some PR stunt. The NFL’s little Instagram shoutout will only fuel that narrative.
