US broadcaster blasts sports fans over Taylor Swift

An American sports broadcaster has blasted “sad and lonely” men for getting upset about Taylor Swift’s presence at NFL matches where she has been cheering on her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Fox Sports pundit Colin Cowherd called out the misogyny of men who “never have real intimacy with a woman” following a spate of complaints from NFL fans about seeing Swift at games.

Speaking on his talk-radio show, The Herd, Cowherd said: “There’s a lot of really weird, lonely, insecure men out there.”

“The fact that a pop star - the world’s biggest pop star - is dating a star tight end who had one of his greatest games ever, and the network puts them on the air briefly, then it bothers you, what does that say about your life?”

Cowherd said he has no problem with coverage of Swift, comparing it with appearances of other celebrities at US sports events over the years.

“Matthew McConaughey - ‘All right, all right, all right’ - love him!” Cowherd continued. “Drake, on everything; Spike Lee, Knicks games; Eminem, Michigan sporting events. We celebrate it. Eighties, ′90s, Jack Nicholson Lakers games? It’s cool. ‘Saw Jack!’ But a talented and beautiful woman is on the air - one who would never pay attention to lonely men - and it bothers them.”

He revealed that the average amount of screen time focused on Swift at Chiefs matches is just 25 seconds.

“Did you know, statistically, in a three-and-a-half-hour NFL playoff broadcast - or regular season broadcast - just 18 minutes are actual football,” Cowherd said. “And we have the data. We have the numbers. You don’t turn away. There’s coaches’ cutaways; they show fans in Buffalo on fire, commercials, reviews... Eighteen minutes of real football. For the record, about the length of five Taylor Swift songs.”

Cowherd blamed misogyny among sports fans for attitudes to Swift.

“There’s a stat out there - it’s kind of uncomfortable for you sad guys - that 50 per cent of men never have real intimacy with a woman. That means the other 50 per cent have multiple intimate relationships with women and the ones that don’t are angry and sad and lonely and they are often misogynistic and resent women who didn’t give them the time they think they deserve.”

Kelce’s Chiefs meet the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on February 12 in a rematch of the 2020 Super Bowl, which was won 23-20 by Kansas in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The Chiefs beat the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC championship game last week to reach the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years. A few hours later, Brock Purdy rallied the No 1-seeded 49ers to a 34-31 victory over the Detroit Lions in the NFC title game.

The Chiefs (14-6) are aiming to become the first back-to-back champions since Tom Brady and the New England Patriots took the title in the 2003-04 seasons.

Swift might not even make it to the Super Bowl - she is scheduled to perform in Japan just 24 hours before kickoff. Rumours that she was going to appear in the halftime show, which will feature R&B star Usher, have been quashed.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission