Ever since Taylor Swift started dating Travis Kelce, the singer has been appearing at The National Football League games to support her new boo. Sadly, she started receiving a lot of hate from NFL fans for doing this, and the situation quickly turned ugly. At the same time, a lot of people online have shown support for her.
One of those people is the man from today's story. He made a video arguing that men should stop their nasty hate towards Swift, as it can very easily negatively affect their daughters. The video went viral as a part of a discussion about hate for Taylor and its misogynistic roots.
More info: TikTok
One dad made a video saying that men who hate Taylor Swift for supporting her boyfriend are only making it worse for themselves by diminishing their daughters' self-esteem
Image credits: Taylor Swift
"For those of you people out there, especially grown men, expressing all this nasty, ridiculous hate for Taylor Swift just for existing and supporting her boyfriend in the NFL."
"Keep in mind Taylor Swift's not gonna see or hear any of that. But you know who will? Your daughters"
Image credits: @peoplescourt79
"And with all this juvenile hate you're showing Taylor Swift for simply being there, you're encouraging your daughters to shrink themselves, reduce who they are. Because if they do anything more than [that], if they just decide to be themselves, they're gonna get a whole lot of hate from not only the world but from people just like you -- their own parents."
"We need to do better. Straight up"
Image credits: Anastasia Shuraeva (not the actual picture)
The video was posted by TikTok user @peoplescourt79, or Robert People. He is an author, screenwriter, and editor who’s been a professional in the industry for 20 years. On TikTok, Robert creates videos on a variety of topics that interest him, from writing to social issues and pop culture, Taylor Swift included.
In his viral video, Robert explained how men spreading nasty hate towards Taylor Swift won’t hurt the singer directly, as she can’t hear them. But their daughters can hear them.
And it encourages them not to like who they are. In Robert’s words, to “shrink themselves” and “reduce who they are.” Girls understand that when they do something that expresses themselves, they can possibly get hate as Taylor Swift does. And this hate does not only come from the world of strangers. It comes from their parents. That can be extremely damaging.
To discuss the topic of the video more broadly, Bored Panda reached out to Robert People.
He said that, so far, his video has received many comments, most of which are positive. Sadly, some of them are not. Usually, these speak ill of Taylor Swift, but that doesn’t shock the video’s creator, knowing that she’s a public figure. “The most notable reactions are those who speak against her because of the carbon emissions from her using a private jet. I feel this is merely a deflection, as my video is clearly regarding the response from mostly men toward her and how often she is shown during Chiefs games.
I see this as being an excuse to continue to ‘hate’ her while using something deemed as a more viable issue than one would have with a celebrity. However, I don't believe many of these same individuals truly care about carbon emissions because Taylor Swift is not the only person who uses a private jet.”
Robert makes it clear that there is a clear distinction between valid criticism and harmful hate. Valid criticism contains constructive responses and is not personal. In his eyes, the attention Taylor is receiving for appearing at NFL games is hateful. After all, she doesn’t do anything different from what other celebrities do. And she’s only there to support her significant other.
“We are not talking about her talent as a recording artist in this context. So if the reason you ‘hate’ seeing her on television during Chiefs games is that you say she is ‘not talented’ or a ‘terrible singer,’ then that is what I consider to be ‘hate.’ It is just an excuse to bash music you personally do not care for when that is not even the discussion.”
Watch the video here
Robert observed that the comments she gets about her music are not valid criticism. For example, some comments that the creator found under his video saying that she's a no-talent hack, attacking her political beliefs, or stating that she got money from her daddy are not constructive. “The bottom line, for me, is that any issues with her exposure during Chiefs games should be directed toward the networks the games are featured on, not her.” In fact, Robert said that he even deleted a derogatory comment in which the C word was used.
Talking about the influence of such negativity on children, especially on young girls, R. People shared a story about how he learned how much influence his actions had on his daughter. It happened when she was a toddler (she is 16 now), so quite a while back. “I did not normally eat vegetables much back then, but I decided to order a side of broccoli with my meal. Her mother and older brother asked if she would eat some, and she just shook her head. I thought I would be silly while eating some just to try and make her laugh. After I finished, I asked if she wanted some broccoli, and she said yes.”
So, his mission as a father, whose decisions have influence over his daughter, is to make sure that she is exposed to positive role models. “If she speaks about a celebrity I don't know, I learn about them to decide if they are positive role models and would contribute positively to her confidence and self-esteem. Understanding what she has to deal with as a young woman and what she will face, I have candid discussions with her to not only teach her about what is out there regarding opinions and comments made about women, but also to continue encouraging her to not let those get her down.”
And in his eyes, Taylor Swift is one of these positive role models. She shows young girls that young women can make it in the world, even though they might face massive negativity. “I just spoke with my daughter the other day about some of the horrible things men say about women in successful and powerful positions.
"I told her that much of that comes from a place of insecurity from these men, while many of them have simply learned from males from previous generations as to how they reduce women to be sort of 'beneath' men, [and they] believe that any woman who dare achieve more success than the typical man is viewed as 'cheating' in some kind of way, whether money is given to them to help out or they had to 'sleep their way to the top.'"
Robert says that Taylor Swift is proof that a woman can make positive things happen, which makes her nearly a perfect example of a person young women can become. “The more she is around that, the less all the negative talk and naysayers will have an impact.”
Image credits: peoplescourt79
As Bored Panda has already discussed, recently, Taylor Swift has been receiving a lot of hate for showing up at NFL games to support her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. Her image is being booed at the games, and people are spreading hate on the internet. It got so bad that some explicit AI images of Taylor were created as an expression of hate towards her, and these were spread online.
You may wonder, 'Why is it so bad that Taylor shows up at these games?' After all, she’s just there to support her boyfriend, and it’s not her fault that the cameras keep showing her. Well, some hardcore NFL fans say that her presence distracts everyone from the game. Another view of the situation is that a lot of this hate stems from the conflict between some NFL fan’s conservative political views and Taylor’s liberal views.
Of course, Swifties did not wait a second to defend their icon online. But they weren’t the only ones. Famous people like David Letterman expressed their support for the singer, who said that he’s #teamtaylor.
J.J. Watt, former Arizona Cardinals defensive end player, expressed that he doesn’t understand why there’s so much hate for Taylor online. He said that male celebrities are constantly showing up to games and are being shown, but they don’t receive such an uproar. Taylor is just supporting her significant other and shouldn't have to deal with all this.
Sports media personalities, such as Colin Cowherd, called the whole situation misogynistic, and Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson said that claims that Swift is ruining the NFL are completely false. And they’re not wrong. For example, current NFL viewership is beating its own records, as many new people are tuning in because of the singer.
Image credits: Taylor Swift
Travis Kelce himself has voiced that he loves it when his girlfriend shows up at his games. He said that he and Taylor are just two people in a relationship who support each other and have fun. Swift herself has said she doesn't care if she annoys some "dads, Brads, and Chads," as she has no awareness of how much she's shown on screen during the games while she supports Travis.
People in the comments under Robert People’s video also don’t view this relationship as a bad thing. A lot of them thanked the TikTok creator for expressing such a thought. One woman even said it made her cry. Others just shared experiences from their lives that happened all because Taylor Swift started appearing at NFL games. Sadly, not every one of them was happy. One woman shared that after seeing her boyfriend hate the singer so much, she understood that she never wants to have kids, especially daughters, with him. Well, maybe it’s better to know now rather than later, right?
"This is the best take I've seen": People online were very supportive of the dad's stance, which brought them to life-changing realizations and even tears
