‘Best human ever.’ Five ways Taylor Swift has won over Kansas City and Chiefs fans
On Sept. 24, Taylor Swift shocked her fans when she showed up at a Chiefs game to cheer on Kansas City’s home team and one player in particular, Travis Kelce.
And then, before she left, she picked up after herself.
“She’s cleaning!” a woman exclaims in a video of Swift carrying empty cups, bottles and cans to the trash in a private suite at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The video inspired a rush of responses on social media.
There was just something about the Grammy-winning supernova that seemed so, well, normal. Like, wouldn’t she make a great Thanksgiving guest?
Since she began a relationship with Kelce, Swift has made positive impressions during her trips to Kansas City, especially among young fans who have been lucky to find themselves in her presence at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
She’s attended three home games but has been in Kansas City at least four times since late September. She reportedly made an under-the-radar trip to Kansas City over Halloween.
But Swift actually entered her Kansas City Era over the summer. Here are four other examples of how she’s won over Kelce’s corner.
Fed Kansas City’s people
After she performed two sold-out shows in July at Arrowhead — where the Travis-Taylor saga began — she made a sizable donation to Harvesters.
It surprised food bank officials, who were asked not to reveal the size of the donation but called it “generous” enough to feed thousands of meals to people in the metro.
With no fanfare, Swift donated money to local food banks and hunger relief groups in the cities she visited on her Eras Tour.
Befriended Chiefs wives
With hugs and secret handshakes, Swift has welcomed Brittany Mahomes, KC Current co-owner and wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, into her celebrity circle of friends and gal pals.
The two women have watched Chiefs games shoulder-to-shoulder at Arrowhead and at MetLife Stadium, where Swift introduced Mahomes to Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.
On Saturday night, Mahomes and two other NFL wives — Lyndsay Bell, wife of Chiefs tight end Blake Bell, and Paige Buechele, wife of former Chiefs backup quarterback Shane Buechele — dined with Swift in New York while the Chiefs were in Germany.
Mahomes left the restaurant holding Swift’s hand, while Selena Gomez walked with them. Models Gigi Hadid and Cara Delevingne and “Game of Thrones” actress Sophie Turner joined the party, too.
On Sunday, paparazzi photographed Bell and Buechele, wearing Chiefs gear, leaving Swift’s Tribeca apartment in New York where Swift reportedly hosted a Chiefs watch party for the group.
Sang ‘Chiefs’ during anthem
The singer has won over that faction of Chiefs Kingdom that ends the national anthem with a loud “home of the Chieeeeeeeefs!”
She was seen on video at the Oct. 22 game at Arrowhead against the Chargers, and earlier at MetLife Stadium, adding the KC twist to the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
One Chiefs fan declared: “(She’s) officially one of us.”
Hugged lots of KC folks
Images of Swift hugging fans in Kansas City quickly go viral now thanks to her international army of Swifties who follow her every move.
On her second trip to Arrowhead on Oct. 12 for the Chiefs-Broncos game, Swift was caught on the national Thursday Night Football broadcast blowing a kiss to a little Chiefs fan.
Swift smiled at the girl through the glass of the private suite where she watched the game with Mahomes and Kelce’s mother, Donna Kelce.
She smiled for a selfie then puckered up her famous red-lacquered lips and blew the girl a kiss.
“Taylor Swift is creating core memories for this young #Chiefs fan while Travis Kelce is making plays for the #ChiefsKingdom,” The Athletes Plug sports management company wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Swift was back in town Oct. 22 to watch the Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers. Wearing Chiefs red, she posed for several photos with fans in the suite and at a pre-game party at Kelce’s Briarcliff home.
Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar met Swift at Kelce’s and was blown away by her kindness.
“Flat out, it is amazing to see what a nice genuine person she is and to see the unbelievable talent and the star she has become and to see she is even a better person was very cool,” Kosar said after meeting her.
Escorted by bodyguards as she left the suite after the game, she stopped to talk to a little girl in a Chiefs jersey as an excited mom yelled out, “Can we get a quick photo?”
Then the mom called for “Emma!”
In a flash two more young fans — Emma wasn’t one of them — snuggled up against Swift as the mom snapped a picture.
Over the roar of the stadium crowd Swift could be heard telling the girls “nice to meet you” as the bodyguard touched her arm to get her moving again.
When a Swift fan group posted the video on Instagram, one admirer declared Swift “the best human ever.”
Wrote another: “Poor Emma! The entire world will forever know Emma missed her shot.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2023 at 10:00 AM.
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