Some of you may not know that Stephen A. Smith is … well, not a Swiftie, but he is certainly empathetic to Taylor Swift. As Smith has explained in the past, he attended The Eras Tour over the summer and was a big fan, calling it “the best concert I’ve ever been to in my life.”
Now, this was before Swift became a fixture at NFL games during her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, so it’s not like this was directly tied to Smith’s day job or anything. But not long after Smith said this on his podcast, Swift and Kelce’s relationship became public, which meant that Swift became a person that sports talking heads talked about a lot. And on Wednesday’s episode of First Take, Swift came up when Smith’s colleague Chris “Mad Dog” Russo — who previously expressed the belief that their relationship is all a PR stunt — said that Kelce is under pressure to perform in the NFL playoffs, in part because of the attention that he’s received for this.
“We’re gonna see nine million pictures of her in the booth, he was awful a couple of occasions this year — remember when he went to Argentina and came back, he dropped passes all over the place?” Russo said. “If you’re gonna live this culture life, and you’re gonna be a pop hero, and be on the cover of People magazine, you can’t have three catches for 26 yards in a loss in a playoff game.”
Anyway, he went on to yell about some more stuff because he gets paid to do that, but then, Stephen A. was given the floor to respond, and boy, did he respond.
📹| @stephenasmith defends @taylorswift13 against the criticisms of her attending Chiefs games.
"I have to take a moment to come to the defense of Taylor Swift. Everybody's sitting up there and acting like she's some kind of impediment and, excuse me, she did her job! That Eras… pic.twitter.com/CujqQ6sM7H
— Taylor Swift Updates 🩶 (@swifferupdates) January 10, 2024
“I have to take a moment to come to the defense of Taylor Swift,” Smith said. “Everybody’s sitting up there and acting like she’s some kind of impediment. Excuse me, she did her job! That Eras Tour? Off the chain. Generated billions. Now, there’s only one Beyonce to me, and Beyonce, all day, everyday, but Taylor Swift was phenomenal. I went to the concert, I see these kids, they absolutely love her. The concert was absolutely, positively, phenomenal, off the chain.
“She did her job,” Smith continued. “She’s going to support her dude, to show up at a football game, and the cameras are on her. That ain’t her fault! And by the way, she went to the games after the concerts. It’s not like she used the games to bump up the concerts, oh no! Those kids were going to her concerts whether the NFL was promoting her or not! Taylor Swift is that girl. Let’s show some respect. She probably is gonna have a positive impact on Travis Kelce’s performance, okay? I’m not trying to disrespect Taylor Swift.”
It is probably worth mentioning that, despite the argument that he’s been distracted or whatever, Kelce is second in the NFL among tight ends this season in receptions (93) and receiving yards (984), while he was tied for third among tight ends with five touchdowns. This was despite the fact that the Chiefs have struggled mightily to get consistent production from essentially anyone at wide receiver, meaning defenses could focus their efforts on slowing down the 34-year-old.
Kelce and the Chiefs will play host to the Miami Dolphins on Super Wild Card Weekend, with the game taking place on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. EST. Our assumption is that Stephen A. Smith will be watching intently.
