The dating rumors surrounding Taylor Swift and NFL player Travis Kelce are unavoidable. But there’s a new internet conspiracy theory circulating about her latest appearance at the Chiefs-Jets game.
A number of users on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and TikTok are suggesting that Swift attended the Jets game in order to suppress online search results about her private jet emissions.
One X user, Britney (@britneymuller), recently shared some of the theories online. “PR Masterclasses,” she wrote. “Taylor Swift attended the Jets game as a strategic SEO play to bury her jet emissions stories. Genius.” Britney also included a screengrab of receipts that she said support this theory.
Last year, a report found that Swift was “the biggest celebrity CO2e polluter of this year so far,” due to her frequent use of a private jet. A spokesperson claimed at the time that Swift often loaned out her private jet, but this bit of data has followed Swift, and was reexamined during this year’s massive Eras Tour.
A PR Masterclasses 🤌
— Britney Muller 🇺🇦 (@BritneyMuller) October 3, 2023
Taylor Swift attended the Jets game as a strategic SEO play to bury her jet emissions stories. 🤯
Genius. pic.twitter.com/tITIketCgR
Britney credited Molly McPhearson (@mollybmcphearson), a pop culture public relations expert, for explaining the theory in a recent video. As of Wednesday afternoon, McPhearson’s TikTok had over 486,500 views.
“I knew it! I said the Jets did not deserve all that publicity with Taylor Swift,” McPhearson said. “Of course [Swift] went to the Jets game for SEO reputation busting.”
McPhearson explained that when users now Google “Taylor Swift Jets,” they likely won’t see unflattering stories about her private jet emissions. Instead, they’ll see lighter news pieces on her attendance at the Jets game.
McPhearson called the move “brilliant.”
@mollybmcpherson #stitch with @underthepink (Kristen) Now we have Taylor Swift’s OFFICIAL Response to the Private Jet CO2 Emission Plane problem from 2022. #taylor #taylorswift #seo #pr #publicrelations #fyp #prlady #thejets #nfl #airplane #crisiscommunication ♬ original sound – Molly McPherson | PR
Britney, from X, shared additional evidence to back up the PR theory. She shared a TikTok comment under McPhearson’s video, for instance, that read, “This explains the ‘traveling on the plane with the Chiefs,’ I was like why? When she notoriously goes everywhere in her own jet.” (This tweet referred to another rumor circulating online that Swift caught a ride to the game via the Chiefs’ plane instead of her own jet.)
Then Britney presented her own evidence of the case.
“Isn’t it sus that so many other articles failed to include the rival team?” she wrote, noting that most news articles only specified that Swift was at a Chiefs game. “But all of a sudden when they play the JETS it’s in nearly every headline?”
Also, isn't it sus that so many earlier articles failed to include the rival team (just that Taylor attended a Chiefs game)?
— Britney Muller 🇺🇦 (@BritneyMuller) October 3, 2023
But all of a sudden, when they play the JETS it's in nearly every headline?? pic.twitter.com/sboSelOLMm
In one viral TikTok, creator @emhahee likened it to Disney producing Frozen to allegedly distract from the rumor that Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen after death.
@emhahee Replying to @Kkb ♬ original sound – emily anne
Others thought she might be applying this SEO approach to other potential search terms, like “Taylor Swift 1975,” which now shows results about the 1975’s Matty Healy, but previously brought up articles speculating about her and Karlie Kloss at a 1975 show in 2014.
“Re-recording google history like she re-recorded her records,” said one commenter on @bryanlicious2‘s TikTok.
Now, this might seem like a stretch considering the Chiefs’ games were already planned out, and her relationship with Kelce has already been the source of out-there conspiracy theories. Plus, people could just add a term like “emissions” to the Taylor Swift jet search.
But as Vulture points out, the celeb SEO shell game is a subtle one. The recent video of Jonathan Majors breaking up a fight was obviously staged, but people searching for him might now see news of the video and not his upcoming assault trial.
Viewers of Britney and Molly’s theories said they believe Swift and Kelce’s entire relationship is a PR stunt. One comment read that there were also “various professional sports teams naming their favorite T-swift songs, shortly before the first headline linking the two.”
“It’s a marketing/PR mastermind,” they wrote.
In a statement to The Daily Dot, Britney appeared to agree. “Could be a spurious relationship,” she said, “or one of the greatest PR stunts of all time.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to McPhearson via X direct message and to representatives for Swift by email.
This post has been updated with additional analysis by Audra Schroeder.