Here's why conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl are spreading
Taylor Swift has been one of the most dominant cultural figures of the past year, between her billion-dollar Eras Tour and accompanying film, a slew of Grammy nominations, and a high-profile romance with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce that's made her a fixture of the National Football League season.
But Swift's popularity is being twisted into a threat by a contingent of far-right, Donald Trump-supporting conservatives who have started circulating conspiracy theories about the singer, the Super Bowl, and the 2024 election.
During the Chiefs' conference championship game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Mike Crispi, a pro-Trump podcast host on the right-wing Salem Media Group, posted a rant claiming the NFL had "RIGGED" a Chiefs victory.
"All to spread DEMOCRAT PROPAGANDA. Calling it now: KC wins, goes to Super Bowl, Swift comes out at the halftime show and 'endorses' Joe Biden with Kelce at midfield. It's all been an op since day one," Crispi wrote on X. (This will be the Chiefs' fourth Super Bowl appearance in the past five years.)
When the Chiefs pulled off a win, speculation went wild, casting Swift's relationship with Kelce as a plot to tip the presidential contest in Biden's favor.
"I wonder who's going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there's a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall," former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has pushed debunked conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6th insurrection, the 2020 election, and 9/11, wrote on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, on Monday.
Unfounded claims about Swift's alleged role as a government plant have been swirling for some time. Last month, Fox News host Jesse Watters speculated that Swift might be a Pentagon "psyop" — an asset used for psychological operations.
"Is Swift a front for a covert political agenda?" he asked. While noting that he had no evidence, he pointed to Swift's endorsement of Biden in 2020 and her recent encouragement that fans register to vote, which led to a surge in registrations. The Pentagon rejected Watters' claim.
But the collision of the Super Bowl and a contentious presidential race have propelled the right-wing backlash to new heights. A New York Times report this week that Biden's campaign is hoping Swift will endorse him again this year added further fuel to the fire.
Influential right-wing figures including Jack Posobiec, who pushed the baseless Pizzagate conspiracy theory, and radio host Charlie Kirk have weighed in. Conservative cable outlets have dedicated multiple segments to Swift, with Fox News's Jeanine Pirro urging her, "Don't get involved in politics. We don't wanna see you there."
Monetizing attention
The strategy of attacking a pop icon, as well as a cultural institution like the NFL, might seem counterproductive, given that both Swift and football are very popular across the political spectrum.
However, the business of many figures in the very online Trump-supporting world is capture and monetize attention, said Joan Donovan, assistant professor of journalism and emerging media studies at Boston University who studies online discourse.
"It's a play for engagement. If you look at interest in Taylor Swift and the crossover with the NFL, you want to be part of those conversations online," Donovan said.
Mentions of Swift on fringe, right-wing internet sites like Trump's Truth Social, have spiked in the last week, according to data from Pyrra Technologies, which tracks smaller platforms.
It's not the first time Swift has been the target of conspiracy theories and right-wing ire.
For years, the singer avoided politics entirely, but her background in country music fueled speculation, without evidence, that she might be a Republican and a Trump supporter. In 2016, Vice reported on white supremacists who claimed Swift as an "Aryan Goddess."
Swift broke her political silence in 2018, endorsing a Democratic opponent to Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, whom Swift called "Trump in a wig," in her home state of Tennessee. She openly supports LGBTQ rights and Black Lives Matter, and condemned Trump during the 2020 protests following George Floyd's death.
Her evolution from teen ingenue to 30-something, unmarried, successful businesswoman has also been a break with conservative ideals of femininity, Donovan said.
"Amongst the right wing, because she is getting older and hasn't had children and whatnot, she's less seen as the traditional 'wifey' material," she said. "In broad terms, Taylor Swift represents older, independent women who do not need male support to have a career, to self-determine where they're going."
More recently, her relationship with Kelce, the Chiefs tight end, has added fuel to conservative criticisms. Kelce has also been attacked by conservatives because he's done commercials for Pfizer vaccines and Bud Light.
Attention begets abuse
The attention focused on Swift doesn't just draw conspiracy theories. It also attracts abuse — and specifically, the kind of abuse that is disproportionately targeted at women online.
In the last week, AI-generated sexually explicit images of Swift went viral on X and other social media sites, racking up tens of millions of views. The incident has resurfaced the prevalence of nonconsensual deepfake pornography, a problem that has plagued not only celebrities, but also regular women and girls, for years.
"The point of gendered abuse, the point of casting Taylor Swift in this light where she is not necessarily her own self-actualized person making her own decisions ... and putting her in this sexualized light is to demean her and to undermine her power," said Nina Jankowicz, a researcher and author of the book How To Be A Woman Online. "She's just a sexual object, she's just a tool of the Biden administration."
Jankowicz herself also been the victim of conspiracy theories and explicit deepfakes. She said she hopes the attention paid to the recent attacks on Swift will also highlight the harms of this kind of abuse on people who do not have the resources of a global superstar.
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Transcript
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
As much as we have heard about Taylor Swift lately, things have somehow gotten even more heated in the last week. Wild conspiracies are circulating on the far right involving the singer, the Super Bowl and the 2024 election. Fox News host Jesse Watters recently speculated, without evidence, that Taylor Swift might be a Pentagon asset.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JESSE WATTERS: So is Swift a front for a covert political agenda?
SHAPIRO: NPR's Shannon Bond is here to unpack where this came from. Hi, Shannon.
SHANNON BOND, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: What are these claims people are making about Taylor Swift?
BOND: All right, so you're going to have to bear with me, but this claim is that Taylor Swift is involved in a secret plot to tip the election to President Biden. And it involves the NFL rigging the Super Bowl so that the Kansas City Chiefs win. Of course, Taylor Swift is dating tight end Travis Kelce, and then Swift is supposed to come out on the field and endorse Biden. Now, does any of that make any sense? I don't really know. But these claims have exploded in the last week on the Trump-supporting right. And they're being promoted by influential figures in that world, including former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Jack Posobiec, the far-right influencer who previously pushed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.
SHAPIRO: But what's the actual goal here? Taylor Swift is not that political, is not running for president. Like, what are they trying to do?
BOND: They're trying to attract attention. And of course, you know, Taylor Swift attracts attention. The business of many of these figures in this very online world is to get engagement and then to monetize it. And of course, those incentives also drive media outlets like Fox News. And in the last week, mentions of Swift on fringe right-wing internet sites like Donald Trump's Truth Social have spiked, according to Pyrra Technologies, which tracks smaller platforms. But, you know, Ari, Swift has been the target of right-wing ire and conspiracy theories for years. It's just that now this is all coinciding with the Super Bowl and a very contentious presidential election.
SHAPIRO: But Swift herself has been pretty apolitical for a long time. There are lots of big-name artists who are way more vocal about politics than her. What happened?
BOND: Yeah, I mean, for a long time, because she came out of country music, you know, there was even speculation she maybe was a Republican or a Trump supporter. I mean, back in 2016, Swift was being claimed by white supremacists as one of their own. But that has started to change. She now openly supports LGBTQ rights and Black Lives Matter. She's criticized Trump. She did endorse Biden in 2020. His campaign is reportedly hoping she'll repeat that this year. You know, you can debate the impact of those kind of celebrity endorsements. But when Swift recently urged her fans to register to vote, that drove a surge in voter registrations. And then in much more recent months, her relationship with Travis Kelce has added fuel to conservative criticisms. Kelce himself has been a target. He's a spokesperson for Pfizer and Bud Light, which are not beloved by the far right.
SHAPIRO: But for those of us who don't pay attention to the conspiracy du jour in far-right media spaces, why does any of this actually matter?
BOND: Well, all of this attention on Taylor Swift, you know, it's not just attracting conspiracy. It's also attracting abuse. And that is particularly true for women online. And we've seen, you know, not just these conspiracies, but in the last week, AI-generated sexually explicit images of Swift went viral on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, and other social media sites. They racked up tens of millions of views. I spoke with Nina Jankowicz, who wrote a book about this kind of gender-based abuse called "How To Be A Woman Online." Jankowicz herself has been the target of conspiracy theories and explicit deepfakes.
NINA JANKOWICZ: The point of gendered abuse, the point of casting Taylor Swift in this light, where she is not necessarily her own self-actualized person making her own decisions and putting her in this sexualized light is to demean her and to undermine her power. She's just a sexual object. She's just a tool of the Biden administration, right?
BOND: And, you know, Ari, we are talking all - about all this right now because it's happening to Taylor Swift. But, you know, this happens to other people, too, and far too often to people who do not have the resources of a global pop star and who also suffer real harm.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Shannon Bond, thank you.
BOND: Thanks, Ari. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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