Jimmy Kimmel skewers MAGA obsession with Taylor Swift-Biden conspiracy

MAGA supporters have in recent weeks pushed a conspiracy theory that Taylor Swift is a Pentagon psy-op

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel used his show on Tuesday night to mock right-wing conspiracy theorists who have claimed Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are “an artificially culturally propped-up couple” created to get President Biden re-elected.

MAGA supporters have in recent weeks pushed a conspiracy theory that Taylor Swift is a Pentagon psy-op for combating misinformation.

But in the past few days, the conspiracy theory was brought to a new level when the singer attended an NFL match in which her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, was playing.

After Sunday’s game, in which the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens, clinching their spot in the next Super Bowl, Ms Swift was seen walking onto the pitch with her boyfriend’s parents before throwing her arms around the sporting star.

It was not the first Kansas City Chiefs game Ms Swift has attended. She has been a regular spectator at the team’s matches since she began dating Mr Kelce last year.

Nonetheless, the heartwarming moment captured between the couple at Monday’s game prompted right-wingers to baselessly suggest that the upcoming Super Bowl could be rigged to ensure that the Kansas City Chiefs win in a roundabout strategy to promote President Joe Biden.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel used his show on Tuesday night to mock right-wing conspiracy theorists (HBO)

Rumble host Mike Crispi claimed, without any evidence, that Taylor Swift would come out onstage during the Halftime Show of the Super Bowl and announce that she is endorsing Joe Biden for president.

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was among the right-wingers who pushed the conspiracy theory.

“I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” Mr Ramaswamy tweeted. “And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall.”

“Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months,” he added.

Mr Ramaswamy’s tweet came as a reply to right-wing figure Jack Posobiec, who shared a version of the theory during an interview with actress Roseanne Barr.

Mr Posobiec said he believes the Democratic Party and other powers are “gearing up for an operation to use Taylor Swift in the election against” Donald Trump. “It’s all been an op since day one,” he added.

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift after the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory at M&T Bank Stadium on 28 January 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

During his show on Tuesday night, Mr Kimmel took the opportunity to slam Mr Ramaswamy for pushing the baseless claim.

“Even this clown who ran for president, Vivek Ramaswamy, added his nut voice to the chorus of cuckoos,” Mr Kimmel said.

“And it’s not just on Twitter — this nonsense is now everywhere your angry grandpa goes,” Mr Kimmel added, calling the conspiracy theorists “not-too-Swifties.”

“The same people who believe Joe Biden has dementia and needs Kamala Harris to feed him butterscotch tapioca every night also believe that he has somehow planned and executed a diabolically brilliant scheme to fix the NFL playoffs so the biggest pop star in the world can pop up on the Jumbotron during the Super Bowl in between a Kia and a Tostitos commercial to hypnotize her 11-year-old fans into voting for Joe Biden,” he continued.

“I mean, it makes sense. It makes total sense. These people — these people think football is fake and wrestling is real.”

Though Ms Swift has mostly kept quiet on politics, she did endorse Mr Biden for president in 2020, and in September got more than 35,000 people to register to vote with an Instagram post on National Voter Registration Day.

Earlier this month, Vote.org chief Andrea Hailey, who Ms Swift has previously partnered with to encourage young people to register to vote, responded to claims that she was a government psy-op.

“Not a psy-op or a Pentagon asset,” she wrote on X. “Just the biggest nonpartisan platform in America helping young people register & cast their vote.”