Pat McAfee Sends a Stern Warning to Fans Who Booed Taylor Swift Name Drop

Pat McAfee and Taylor Swift

Pat McAfee had a stern warning for his audience on the second day of the 2024 NFL Draft when some of his listeners began booing in response to hearing Taylor Swift’s name mentioned on his show.

The sports analyst invited NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell onto The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, April 26, as football fans across the country kept tabs on the latest draft picks. While discussing efforts to keep the game clear of outside influences like gambling and other distractions, McAfee made a joke about the pop superstar who attended several NFL games last season in support of her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

“If people think there’s an influence on the game other than the players on that field, we’re in trouble,” Goodell said before McAfee broke in.

Related: Why Pat McAfee Is ‘So Happy’ for Travis Kelce After Taylor Swift’s Latest Album Release

“Well Taylor Swift, we know…” McAfee trailed off.

Goodell then responded, “Well, that’s a different kind of influence.” The commissioner then questioned the audience in apparent disbelief as many people began loudly booing the mention of the “Cruel Summer” singer’s name.

“Yeah, you can’t—you can’t boo,” McAfee scolded his listeners. He then warned them what repercussions they might face if they continued. “Yeah, you’re gonna be part of an album. Get a little louder. She is gonna cook you.”

McAfee seemingly made his warning about the way that Swift often confronts the major events and people in her life through her lyrics. Swifties believe her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, features songs that address her prior romances with actor Joe Alwyn and The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, in addition to her relationship with Kelce. Many of Swift’s fans also believe that two of her songs contend with her long-running feud with reality TV personality Kim Kardashian.

Outside of her music, Swift became a popular point of discussion during the 2023 NFL season due to how frequently she attended Chiefs games. She began going to games last fall, a move that served as her public confirmation that she was dating Kelce.

Though The New York Times conducted an analysis that found televised games only showed Swift an average of 25 seconds per game she attended as of late January, some fans of the sport were nevertheless frustrated by the new kind of attention that Swift’s presence brought to the sport.

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