“Saturday Night Live” returned with host Pete Davidson on Saturday, and the first sketch of the night took on Taylor Swift/NFL mania, via a parody of Fox’s NFL Sunday team. As the anchors tried to outdo each other with their Swift fandom, the sketch ended with a cameo by Travis Kelce himself — the Kansas City Chiefs tight end at the center of the brouhaha.
Fox NFL anchor Curt Menefee, played by Kenan Thompson, grows increasingly frustrated as his co-anchorsTerry Bradshaw (Molly Kearney),Howie Long (Mikey Day), Michael Strahan (Devon Walker) and Jimmy Johnson (James Austin Johnson) reveal their love of Swift.
When Menefee refers to “Bad Blood,” and then his co-anchors break into the Swift song, Thompson-as-Menefee has had enough: “You know what, I’m done. When we get back, we’re going to speak to someone who actually wants to talk football,” he says.
The “SNL” audience had also elicited a gasp, and viewers then discovered why: Kelce (who had hosted an “SNL” episode last season, before all of this) was in the house, and appeared in his cameo. On the internet, fans immediately speculated that Kelce was in town (his Chiefs already played on Thursday this week) to watch his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, take on the New York Jets.
Little did the audience know, Swift would make her own cameo in the episode later on.
On Thursday, Swifttraveled back to Kansas City for the Chiefs’ NFL game against the Denver Broncos, one day after thepremiere of her “Eras Tour” filmWednesday night in Los Angeles.
Since Swift was first rumored to be dating Chiefs tight endTravis Kelce, Swift has now appeared at three of tight end’s last four games — giving the NFL amajor boost in ratingsand sparking a media craze, with color commentators even weighing in on the trend during the game.
The singer-songwriterattended the Chiefs-Jets gametwo weeks ago with Hugh Jackman, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds among those joining her in the stands. about 27 million viewers tuned into NBC’s Sunday Night Football that day. Moreover, Kelce’s jersey sales have increased by an astounding 400% since Swift first entered the NFL world.
The Swift football frenzy began inWeek 3of the NFL season, when the Chiefs beat the Chicago Bears, and the attention surrounding her attendance at Chiefs games has yet to subside in Week 5.
The NFL immediately capitalized on Swift’s massive popularity, posting about her on its social media accounts and frequently showing her on camera throughout broadcasts.
Watch the full sketch here:
(Jaden Thompson contributed to this report.)
