Taylor Swift shakes off pro-Trump pal Brittany Mahomes at Chiefs game

Has Donald Trump come between another set of friends — this time between Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes, with Swift appearing to go out of her way to avoid being seen at Thursday night’s Kansas City Chiefs game with her one-time game-day bestie?

It’s not likely that either Swift or Mahomes will ever publicly admit that there’s tension between them — specifically over Mahomes’ recent move to signal her support for Trump and his bid to return to the White House.

But Swift was giving off signals of her own Thursday night, showing that she didn’t seem eager to be seen in the company of the wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The “Shake it Off’ singer was photographed at the Chiefs-Ravens game, seated separately from Mahomes, as she cheered on boyfriend Travis Kelce and his team to a 27-20 victory.

The separate seating came a day after the polarizing former president went on Truth Social to personally and publicly thank Mahomes for “strongly defending me” and for appearing to embrace “the fact that MAGA is the greatest and most powerful Political Movement in the History of our now Failing Country.”

The physical distance between the two women at the game — each cheering on the Chiefs from their respective luxury suites — was in marked contrast to the 2023 NFL season, TMZ and the Daily Beast reported. Through all of last fall, the two famous “WAGs” usually were inseparable at Chiefs games, as they repeatedly hung out together in the same suite, hugging and dancing, TMZ and the Daily Beast noted. TMZ said that Swift’s “normal” seat at Arrowhead Stadium was usually next to the quarterback’s wife, and in a spot adjacent to Kelce’s parents.

FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – DECEMBER 17: Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes, and Ashley Avignone cheer after a Kansas City Chiefs touchdown during the second quarter against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on December 17, 2023 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

But Mahomes’ possible pro-MAGA views could certainly put her at odds with Swift in this tightly contested presidential election. Both sides in the 2024 race argue that the future of the nation is at stake, while Trump critics — who have famously included Swift — hold that the GOP candidate is an existential threat to democracy and the personal freedoms of many Americans, notably women.

Swift has not yet endorsed a candidate in the race, and there’s no doubt that Kamala Harris would love to include her in her long list of celebrity supporters. The “Cruel Summer” singer seems to be under pressure from many Swifties to endorse Harris’ bid to become the first woman to be elected U.S. president. There definitely would be precedent for Swift to make such an endorsement. She publicly supported the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket in 2020, and she has criticized Trump in the past for “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism.”

Perhaps Swift’s relationship with Kelce complicates things — because the tight end is good friends with Patrick Mahomes and enjoys a successful professional partnership him on the football field. Patrick and Brittany Mahomes also have hung out socially with Swift and Kelce, most recently as guests at Swift’s Rhode Island mansion.

Patrick Mahomes, incidentally, has emphasized that he won’t come out in favor of either candidate in the election. He previously joined LeBron James’ “More Than a Vote” campaign to increase Black turnout for the 2020 election. But he didn’t endorse a presidential candidate that year. In April, Mahomes spoke to Time magazine as one of Time’s 100 most influential people. He said, “I don’t want to pressure anyone to vote for a certain president. I want people to use their voice, whoever they believe in. I want them to do the research.”

But his wife, who is pregnant with their third child, has indicated that she’s not going to back down from expressing herself. While she has not explicitly endorsed the former reality TV star, she has showed support, via her actions on social media, that have led many of her fans to accept that she’s pro-Trump, according to TMZ and other media outlets. 

Mahomes first hinted at her support for Trump and his running mate JD Vance three weeks ago, after she appeared to “like” and to subsequently “un-like,” an Aug. 13 Instagram post from the GOP candidate, Vanity Fair reported at the time. The post shared the “2024 GOP platform,” which included such bullet points as “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history” and “keep men OUT of women’s sports.”

Mahomes faced fierce backlash for initially liking Trump’s post. But she subsequently hit back at her “haters,” with a text-only Instagram Story that didn’t directly refer to Trump, Vanity Fair reported.

“I mean honestly,” she wrote. “To be a hater as an adult, you have to have some deep-rooted issues you refuse to heal from childhood. There’s no reason your brain is fully developed and you hate to see others doing well.”

Mahomes then appeared to “double down” on her Trump support last week, with TMZ reporting that she liked a comment on one of her recent Instagram posts. The comment that Mahomes liked said, “Glad to see you aren’t backing down. We are all entitled to our own opinions and shouldn’t be bullied into submission.” The message came with an applause emoji.

Many Trump supporters have filled Mahomes’ social media feeds with praise for her standing her ground in support of the 45th president. “Don’t let the liberals hurt your feelings, you’re gonna gain followers by supporting Trump,” one person wrote. But others have come after her for supporting a candidate who is a convicted felon, who is “dangerous and cannot be normalized,” and who would take away the rights of her own daughter.

Following Thursday’s game, Swift and Kelce were photographed leaving Arrowhead Stadium, with Swift dressed in an eye-catching denim Versace corset and jeans shorts. Page Six reported that they headed to one of his favorite restaurants in Kansas City, Mo., where he hosted a small party to celebrate the Chiefs’ victory during their first game of the season.

Sources told Page Six that Swift made it to the party and appeared to have fun. “Taylor got a little drunky,” an insider told Page Six, laughing off how the pop star was able to relax and “let her hair down.” Page Six reported that Patrick Mahomes also made it to the party, but there was no word on whether his wife also was in attendance.

The Daily Beast acknowledged that it’s not yet clear whether Brittany Mahomes and Swift are “experiencing a fissure in their relationship.” But, “as the two went from spending past Chiefs games dancing and cheering their beaus and hugging it out to now sitting in separate suites altogether, it’s safe to say there may be trouble in paradise,” the outlet also said.

Originally Published: September 6, 2024 at 1:21 p.m.