TAYLOR SWIFT IS a woman of many accomplishments.
At just 34 years of age, the Pennsylvanian singer-songwriter is a three time Album of the Year winner at the Grammys, she was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023, and was designated as a billionaire by Forbes late last year. At this juncture in her career, it seems as though there is virtually nothing she cannot do.
One of her least expected achievements came last week when Swift’s use of a private jet finally got ultra-conservative US network Fox News to apparently acknowledge that excessive CO2 emissions are a bad thing. A report by Fox News noted that Swift’s 40-minute journey from New Jersey to Baltimore produced three tonnes of C02 and burned 1,589 lbs of jet fuel.
Fox News’ coverage of climate affairs does not tend to be so critical, with other recent headlines including “Democrats want to use climate change to break the border” and “Climate extremists are afraid to debate. Maybe they should be”. Nevertheless, Fox found a way to skirt their usual climate denialism in order to slam Swift. As the week wore on, Sean Hannity weighed in to ask: “Does Taylor realise the guy that they want her to endorse is a kind of stumbling, bumbling mess?” His fellow fox host Jeanine Pirro also explicitly warned Swift against getting “involved” in politics.
The reason for Swift’s journey was to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his NFL team the Kansas City Chiefs compete in the NFL playoffs on Sunday evening. Swift’s relationship with tight end Kelce has become a pop culture phenomenon
The Chiefs won, booking their second Superbowl appearance in as many years after reaching the pinnacle of American football last year.
There will undoubtedly be more focus on the Superbowl this year due to Swift’s presence. The Chiefs’ playoff on Sunday was the most watched Sunday evening broadcast in the United States since the previous year’s Superbowl, undoubtedly owing to increase in attention as a result of Swift’s involvement.
Kelce was by no means a no-name before his relationship with Swift. A two-time Superbowl champion, he is regarded as one of the finest players of his generation, and holds several NFL records – including the record for most consecutive and most overall seasons with 1,000 yards receiving by a tight end. He had also already achieved some crossover appeal in the entertainment world, hosting Saturday Night Live in March of last year.
Fox News’ criticism of Swift for her flying habits might be embarrassingly hypocritical, but they are not necessarily wrong. Swift has been criticised before for her flying habits, and in 2022 it was reported by Buzzfeed that Swift’s jet produced more emissions in just seven months than 1,184 average people would put out in a year. This is partly because the jet gets rented out when Swift isn’t using it, but it’s hard to say if this makes it any less sketchy in terms of consequences for the climate.
I love the idea that liberals conspired to get Taylor Swift to date Travis Kelce and then rigged the playoffs because this somehow abstractly helps Biden.
— Andrew Nadeau (@TheAndrewNadeau) January 29, 2024
That’s where we shine. We can’t get free healthcare but perfectly execute a Riddler-esque conspiracy to ruin a football game
However, Fox’s attitude towards Swift suggests that the superstar’s political alignment represents a threat to right-wing American politics. Swift has rarely waded into America’s toxically polarised political landscape, though when she has, she has swung hard in favour of Democrat candidates. Most notably, she openly endorsed Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.
There is little reason to think Swift will do anything differently this time around, and it is likely that with the additional heft of her football star boyfriend, the impact of her endorsement could be even more consequential. Liberal social media users have already begun to fantasise that Swift and Kelce might even endorse Biden on 11 February after another Chiefs Superbowl win.
Swift’s celebrity has now reached such an order of magnitude that nothing she says, does or fails to do can be extricated from the political climate. She is a woman of such influence that her mere presence can elevate what was already America’s most popular pastime.
This influence is borderline ubiquitous. Last week, for example, Swift single-handedly got the infamously moderation-resistant Twitter to remove AI-generated pornographic images of her, and got owner Elon Musk to commit to hiring 100 new content moderators.
Hopeful posters online have speculated as to what could be achieved if Taylor Swift were to speak the words “free Palestine”. Such an outcome is unlikely, but it is valid to wonder about the extent to which Taylor Swift could sway the American public on even the most contentious issues.
Swift is yet to make her feelings known on the 2024 presidential election. One suspects that we’ll be hearing an awful lot more from Fox News when she does.
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