Did Taylor Swift put Travis Kelce on the map?
That’s the basis of the latest TikTok prank, in which people troll their football-loving partners by posting videos suggesting the pop star has made the Kansas City Chiefs tight end famous. (He’s won two Super Bowls. And hosted NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”)
The prank, which began after Swift was spotted at Sunday’s Chiefs game, entails people secretly filming themselves telling their partners that Swift put Kelce on the map and that nobody knew who he was before the association with Swift. The reactions, mostly from boyfriends and husbands, have ranged from shock to outrage.
“What? You’re kidding right?” one partner asked in response.
“Baby, that’s not what happened,” said another partner.
“Oh my god, don’t,” another partner said. “Just don’t say that!”
It’s unclear who started the trend — but as of Thursday, a search on TikTok shows that hundreds of people have participated. The NFL-Swiftie crossover had evolved into a bonding opportunity for couples, with some joking online that they are testing their relationships and others leaning in to the fun of having their interests collide.
Like many participants, Kelley Carrasquillo said she did know who Kelce was despite pretending otherwise.
Her husband, Luis Carrasquillo, said that’s why he appears so shocked in their TikTok video, which has garnered over 5 million views. He said he “could have sworn” that Kelley knew who Kelce was before pranking him.
“She got a huge laugh out of the whole thing,” Luis said.
Meanwhile, Kelley said she’s inspired to watch football again.
“I think it’s so fun because now we can do it as a family and my stepdaughter wants to watch it because Taylor Swift is involved,” Kelley said. “She’s never really been the sports girl at all, and now she’s like, ‘Do you guys want to watch the game next week?’”
The prank also did actually inspire the Austin-based couple to have a serious conversation about the topic. Kelley pointed out that while the NFL is very American, Taylor Swift is a global sensation.
“When you say football anywhere else in the world, people think soccer,” she said. “She’s bringing him to a global scale and people around the world know who she is.”
Victoria Garrick Browne, a content creator, and her husband, Max Browne, a football analyst, who are both based in Los Angeles, said they could not be happier that their worlds are colliding. They did not partake in the prank, but the two have made several videos about Swift and Kelce since Sunday.
Victoria has grown an audience of over 1 million TikTok followers with content geared around mental health, body image and sometimes Swift. Browne is a former college football player for the USC Trojans. The two went to Taylor’s Eras Tour stop in Los Angeles, where he dressed as “the scarf.”
“These are two of the most exciting and dedicated fan bases,” Victoria said. “He’s watching every football game and very much in that world and so for them to truly come together at one time, it felt like time stopped for me and we just have been hyped about it.”
The prank circulating TikTok is “the perfect example of two opposite ends of the internet just colliding,” Max added.
On one side you have the football “hardos,” as Max likes to call them. “Travis Kelce is in the conversation for the best tight end ever, but this whole thing goes to show how unaware so many football fans are of Taylor’s starpower,” he said. “On the flip side, I also think it’s somewhat refreshing that the Swifties are kind of like, ‘Wait, who is this guy?’”
Swifties can sometimes be looked down upon in a “You Need to Calm Down” kind of way, Victoria said.
“It’s really funny to kind of role reverse and see how worked up some of these guys are getting. Some of them are like leaving and walking out of the room because they can’t even handle this conversation and they’re so worked up, insisting that he [Kelce] was already on the map” before Taylor Swift.
The TikTok trend may have been a joke, but Swift is undoubtedly bringing Kelce and the NFL to untapped audiences.
Sales of Kelce’s jersey spiked nearly 400% after Swift was spotted at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium.
The TikTok trend has seemingly even reached Kelce himself, who addressed Swift’s appearance at Sunday’s game on the podcast New Heights, which he co-hosts with his brother, Jason Kelce, a center for the Philadelphia Eagles.
“How does it feel that Taylor Swift put you on the map?” Jason joked.
“It was definitely a game I will remember,” Travis said. “Then, we just slid off in the ‘Getaway Car’ at the end.”
It’s hard to imagine Swift getting any bigger than she is right now, but NFL fans could be the last demographic she has left to conquer, according to Max, the football analyst.
“Not that Taylor needs any more fans, but I think if this continues, she’s probably going to unlock a segment of the population that maybe was resistant to Taylor before,” he said.
Even the NFL has leaned in — its official TikTok account changed the league’s bio to “9/24/23. Taylor was here.”
Neither Kelce nor Swift have confirmed whether they are dating. A source close to Swift told NBC News earlier this week that she and the Chiefs star are spending time together.
