Say a prayer for the Dads, Brads, Chads and dildo throwers this week.
She lives rent free in these guys’ heads and they’ll never even know her address.
“You should think of your energy as if it’s expensive, as if it’s a luxury item. Not everyone can afford it. Not everyone has invested in you in order to be able to have the capital for you to care about this,” Swift said Wednesday night during her appearance on ‘New Heights,’ the podcast hosted by her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his older brother Jason.
“What you spend your energy on, that’s the day,” Swift said. “It doesn’t matter where you were. Maybe you went to go get coffee today, maybe you saw friends today. If you were obsessing over one thing that you saw — you literally saw some guy call you mid and you can’t stop thinking about it, dude, that’s the day then. That’s the night then.”
Swift is the most influential entertainer of her generation. Her Eras Tour alone grossed a record $2 billion and helped fuel consumer spending across the globe. A single line in one of her songs can spark an international trend, and her endorsement can turn an opening act into a headliner.
Swift also is, apparently, a very decent human being, giving her cast and crew massive bonuses and making large donations to food banks in the cities where her tour stopped.
But my God does she piss insecure men off.
When Swift began dating Kelce two years ago, she did what any normal, supportive partner does: She showed up for him, going to as many Kansas City Chiefs games as her schedule allowed.
And because she is the most famous woman on the planet and because she is often accompanied by some of her famous friends, Swift’s presence creates something of a frenzy. Cameras are waiting when she enters the stadium and she’s often shown on the broadcast if Kelce makes a big play.
It’s no different than the time or 20 Spike Lee is shown when he’s at a New York Knicks game. Or Eminem ending up on the Jumbotron (and the playlist) when he’s cheering on his beloved Detroit Lions. For famous men, though, their fandom is something to be appreciated and respected.
For Swift, the knives are out.
Some fans, and they are mostly male, complain that she’s “taking over” the game. They gripe about how “much” she’s shown during games, making it sound as if there’s a camera trained on her for the entire game rather than the couple-second glimpses here and there it actually is. (Also ignoring this is the broadcasters’ doing, not hers.)
They accuse Swift of being a distraction. They say the game is being dumbed down because the Swifties who are now Chiefs (and Eagles) fans aren’t “true” fans. Whatever that means.
One writer from the misogynistic swamp that is Barstool Sports even whined that Jason Kelce was overselling Swift’s appearance on ‘New Heights’ and predicting it wouldn’t compare with Donald Trump’s appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
Given the teaser of Jason Kelce’s intro did 10 million views in 16 hours on X alone, I’ll take that bet.
What they really mean is they don’t like some woman — a powerful and confident woman, at that — intruding on their male sanctuary. That same toxic attitude is why immature cryptobros are throwing sex toys at WNBA games. Sports is these man-babies’ man cave, and if they can’t drive women away from it with their misogyny and condescension, then they’ll make it as uncomfortable as possible.
The joke is on them, however. Swift is well aware of what these small-minded men think of her and she just doesn’t care, joking in the podcast teaser that, “I think we all know that if there’s one thing that male sports fans want to see in their spaces and on their screens, it’s more of me.’
“My business is making music and taking care of my fans,” Swift said on ‘New Heights.’ “I have ways of monitoring what they want from me and how best to entertain them, which is my job. Everything else, I’m just sort of like, it’s not my business. I have actual business that I need to run.”
The trolls and misogynistic miscreants can gripe all they want, and Swift will go on happily living her life. There’s no better clapback than that.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.