Why was Taylor Swift booed at the Super Bowl?

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — There was no on-field celebration for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce after this Super Bowl. Only consolation far away from the prying TV cameras.

The pop superstar turned up at the big game for the second consecutive year as her boyfriend and the Kansas City Chiefs tried to make history by winning a third consecutive Lombardi Trophy. Instead, Swift found herself booed by a pro-Eagles crowd and then had to endure their countless cheers as Philadelphia rolled to a 40-22 victory at the Superdome.

Last year, Swift and Kelce locked lips on the field at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas as red and gold confetti fell like rain after the Chiefs won their second straight Super Bowl — the duo's first since becoming a sports-and-music power couple.

That was a celebratory affair for Swift all night: She won a beer-chugging contest to raucous cheers from the pro-Chiefs crowd, and she spent the game partying with celebrity friends including Blake Lively and Lana Del Rey.

Yet much has changed over the past 12 months. Many sports fans have turned against Swift, whom they believe gets far too much television time during NFL games. And even more fans have turned against the Chiefs, who have replaced the Patriots of Tom Brady as the juggernaut that NFL fans love to hate.

So it wasn't surprising that Swift — who grew up near Philadelphia but now roots for Kansas City — was booed when shown on the videoboards alongside rapper Ice Spice during a break in the first quarter Sunday night. She gave a bit of a side-eye look and wrinkled her nose when she realized the boos were for her.

By the second half, and with the Eagles in control, the cameras were staying away from her entirely, and after the game, President Donald Trump took a dig at Swift, who endorsed Kamala Harris in last year's election.

“The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift,” Trump posted on social media. “She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!”

Swift and Kelce became a couple early last season, when the four-time All-Pro tight end invited the songstress to watch him play in a game against the Bears. Kelce had famously tried and failed to deliver a friendship bracelet to Swift when she had played at Arrowhead Stadium, but she took him up on the offer to attend a game and their relationship blossomed.

Perhaps being shut out at the Grammy Awards last week was a harbinger of a long, difficult night. In 2024, she had won album of the year for her 14th career Grammy a week before joining Kelce for their on-field Super Bowl celebration.

That week was arguably peak Taylor and Travis, not that their stardom has dimmed since. In 2024, after the Grammys, she was in the midst of her Eras Tour and had played a concert in Tokyo before making a mad dash to Las Vegas for the game.

This year she eased into the Big Easy, arriving in time to join Kelce on a double date with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, on Friday night. The couples dined at Lilette, a French restaurant near the Garden District.

On the eve of the big game, Swift was spotted with musicians Danielle and Alana Haim at Gianna Restaurant.

The big question swirling early Sunday was what might happen if Kelce won a third straight Super Bowl ring and fourth overall. Would he pick such a festive moment to propose? BetMGM Sportsbook gave 8/1 odds for those willing to wager on it.

That possibility was snuffed out well before the game was over.

The Chiefs fell to 19-4 with Swift in the crowd, and Sunday was the first time she saw them lose in the playoffs.

“We haven’t played that bad all year. You don’t lose like that without everything going bad,” Kelce said.

Now, the question is whether the 35-year-old Kelce — who made himself scarce in the postgame locker room — will be back for another Super Bowl run. He has been noncommittal about playing next year, and some within the Chiefs organization are bracing for a potential retirement after a record-setting career that will almost certainly land him in the Hall of Fame.

Kelce has been laying the groundwork for his post-playing career for years. He has a lucrative podcast with his brother, retired Eagles center Jason Kelce, and has hosted game shows and even tried his hand at acting this past offseason.

“I’ll let Travis make that decision on his own,” said Mahomes, his closest buddy on the team. “He knows he still has a lot of football left in him. I mean, you can see it. He always makes plays in the biggest moment, but it’s if he wants to put in that grind, because it takes it takes it to go out there and play 20 games, whatever it is, and get to the Super Bowl.

“He’s done enough to be a gold-jacket guy and first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Mahomes added, “but I know he still has love for the game, and he’ll get to spend some time with his family and make that decision on his own.”

Dalton reported from Los Angeles.

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Ice Spice, from left, Taylor Swift, Este Haim, Alana Haim and Ashley Avignone, back center, watch during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Ice Spice, from left, Taylor Swift, Este Haim and Alana Haim watch during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Ice Spice, from left, Taylor Swift, Este Haim and Alana Haim watch during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Ice Spice, from left, Taylor Swift, Este Haim and Alana Haim watch during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Kansas City Chiefs fan Rose Loftus, 9, from Dallas, ties her hair while wearing a Taylor Swift friendship bracelet outside of St. Louis Cathedral before the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A person wearing a Taylor Swift shirt walks in the French Quarter before the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A person wearing a Taylor Swift shirt walks in the French Quarter before the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's photo portrait display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document U.S. history.

The wall text, which summarized Trump's first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum's “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.

The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

Trump's original “portrait label," as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump's Supreme Court nominations and his administration's development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”

Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”

Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump's “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”

The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents' painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump's display.

Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.

Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.

The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok's work.

“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”

For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.

And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”

Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents U.S. history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation's development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.

In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery's director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian's governing board, but she ultimately resigned.

At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.

The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump's two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden's autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”

Barrow reported from Atlanta.

People react to a photograph of President Donald Trump on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery walk past the portrait of President Donald Trump, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Visitors stop to look at a photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

A photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)