If there is one cardinal sin in modern America, it is daring to question Taylor Swift. Trash a politician, start a bar fight, or get ejected on live TV, and you will survive the week. But suggest music’s biggest billionaire is a bandwagon fan? Good luck.
Enter Knicks guard Tyler Kolek. During an NBA 2K stream on TikTok with teammate Deuce McBride, the two were asked to name the fakest celebrity fan they ran into during New York’s historic title run.
Most athletes would sweat the answer and name a random influencer. But Kolek aimed right at the throne.
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“Maybe Taylor Swift?” Kolek said. “I don’t know if I’ve seen her at any other games.”
“I would agree. Swifties not gonna like that answer,” Deuce McBride responded.
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Kolek continued, “Everyone else is usually solid. Like Ben Stiller, Tracy Morgan; I guess she’s got a lot going on, so she can’t come all the time.”
And with that, the friendship bracelet mob is already mobilizing. But Kolek hit the bullseye.
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Taylor showing up to the baseline with the HAIM sisters in punny “Stevie Knicks” shirts was textbook performative branding. It had nothing to do with New York basketball; it was all about hijacking the spotlight. NFL fans have spent seasons getting hit with broadcast cutaways every three plays, so Taylor Swift could chest-bump Brittany Mahomes in a luxury suite and pretend she had been braving freezing wind chills at Arrowhead Stadium her whole life.
- Swifties are already melting down in Kolek’s mentions, but the kid called it like he saw it. If you skipped five decades of pure misery, don’t show up for the ring.
- alejandro.avila@outkick.com / : @alejandroaveela