Front Burner - Down the Super Bowl conspiracy rabbit hole

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

The Super Bowl is this Sunday, and the teams on the field are no surprise. What is surprising is that the off-field mania around Taylor Swift dating a Chiefs player has gotten deeply, deeply weird. Some American networks have been stirring up conspiracy theories that Swift and Kelce’s relationship is a deep-state psy-op. The Super Bowl has morphed into a sort of singularity-level conspiracy, pulling in everything: vaccines, the CIA, light beer, billionaire investor George Soros, and President Joe Biden. Drew Magary is an author and a columnist with Defector and SFGate. He writes a lot about football, and he’s one of the hosts of Defector’s Distraction podcast. He’s here to dig into it. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Damon Fairless. So, the Super Bowl is this Sunday, and the teams on the field are no surprise. The Kansas City Chiefs have now played in four of the last five Super Bowls, and the games are rematched, too.

The Chiefs played the San Francisco 49ers back in 2020. What is a little surprising is that the off-field mania surrounding Taylor Swift dating the Chiefs player has gotten deeply, deeply weird. Well, around four years ago, the Pentagon Psychological Operations Unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset during a NATO meeting. This is what I think is going to happen. There's going to be like some type of proposal after the Super Bowl is rigged for the chiefs. And then the two of these people become rich, like crazy levels of absolute fame. It's a coordinated marketing campaign by Democrats to leverage celebrities to excite their base into coming out and voting. This is how right wing outlets like Fox News and OAN, the One American News Network, have been stirring up conspiracy theories that Swift and Kelsey's relationship

is a deep state psy-hop. And as the Super Bowl approaches, it's morphed into a sort of singularity-level conspiracy, pulling in everything. Vaccines, light beer, billionaire investor George Soros, and of course, President Joe Biden. It's, well, it's a lot. So I've got Drew McGarry with me today, and we're going to talk about all this, and maybe even football. Drew's an author and a columnist with Defector and SFGate. He writes a lot about football, and he's one of the hosts of Defector's Distraction Podcast. podcast. Hey, Drew, thanks for coming on FrontBurner. Appreciate it. My pleasure, Damon. Thanks for having me on.

Okay. So I've got to come clean. I mean, I follow football like once a year, I go to my father-in-law's Superbowl party. I'm not, I just don't follow football very much. That's okay. I have to come clean, but I do now because I basically, anytime I've been reading about the Superbowl lead up to the Superbowl, I feel like I've been microdosing or maybe like actually macrodosing, like it's trippy. So I want to get into some of that. So Taylor Swift starts dating Travis Kelsey. The conspiracies start right out of the gate.

I want to start with kind of like the original, the OG Swift Kelsey conspiracy, that their relationship was so mutually beneficial that there were these questions about the whole thing being a marketing ploy, right? That's how I felt. That was a conspiracy theory that I had because I'm so used to. In America, I mean, I guess this is global, particularly here in America, though. In America, I mean, I guess this is global, particularly here in America, though, every time there's a major celebrity story that has some sort of personal interest or angle to it, it always ends up being a brand stunt, right? So, like, Snoop Dogg, just like a few months ago, was like, I'm giving up smoke. And everyone's like, oh, my God, Snoop Dogg's not going to smoke weed anymore. Will he even be Snoop Dogg?

And I was like, that's an ad. And, of course, it was an ad. It was an ad for a stupid smokeless fireplace and people like oh i've been had i can't believe i was tricked by a man who will do every commercial he is asked to be in ever i can't believe that that and would never give up weed and here we go yeah yeah yeah yeah who gives up weed so i uh so i thought okay, Taylor Swift has her version of 1989 coming out, you know, in a few weeks. For Swifties, that wildest dream has come true. Overnight, peak Taylor-monium as the pop star released her highly anticipated album, 1989, Taylor's version. Her Heiress documentary comes out out this is back in september october when they started taylor has a lot to celebrate she has the Midas touch at the moment

with her era defining megator her concert movie that is smashing box office records and uh and the nfl well they love nothing more than bringing in younger fans because god forbid their old fan days die off. So it was a mutually beneficial thing. And Travis Kelsey, of course, got to brag that he was going out with Taylor Swift. Hey, man. Did you really have your phone number ready on a friendship bracelet to give to Taylor Swift?

I said what I said, and I meant what I said when I said it. You shot your shot, huh? And you know what? It is what it is. I'm not going to talk about my personal life. Everyone won. So it seemed to me like it's the perfect fake relationship. Like, you know, I'm so used to there being kayfabe behind everything.

They even managed to monetize the Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau feud into some stupid brand stunt. So I was like, okay, well, they're not real. They probably know each other's names, but that's kind of about it. Like, I even bet one of my colleagues five bucks that it was a sham. She thought they were going to get married, and I was like, Taylor Swift ain't getting married. Is she going to share her billion dollars with somebody?

That's not going to happen. How do you feel about that now? I think they're legit, because she's, not only has she gone to every Chiefs game during the season, but she went to the AFC title game in Baltimore. You don't go to Baltimore unless you really have to. And then after the game, she went down on the field,

gave him a big old wet sloppy kiss. And I was like, all right, that's above and beyond. She has now. And the watchers, like the people watching her, like they're parsing body language and eye contact. No, that's real love eye contact too, right? Like, but you're picking up on that. Yeah. And I've seen staged kisses, you know, like I saw Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley

kiss at the VMA. It was like, I know, I know what I'm being had. And they were like, they seemed genuinely fond of one another, which makes sense because one of them is an attractive football player and the other one is an attractive pop star. There is something to the NFL benefiting from this, right? Like, I mean, this is legitimately the first, maybe the only Super Bowl game that my nine-year-old daughter will look at the screen probably. So, I mean, and do you think it's nice that, you know, more people are watching football together? Yeah. I mean, the NFL essentially is the media industry here in Americaica so you know for them to have a woman who

essentially is the definitive pop star and holds sway over the entire music industry and to be able to bring her into a fold into the fold with a you know with a league that essentially owns the television industry well that that behooves everybody that makes everybody nice and nice and happy and it's it's fun for me to watch little Reddit threads of Swifties who don't really understand football and don't even know what Travis Kelsey's job on the field is.

Like, oh my god, they hit him so hard. That's not right. I don't like that. While plenty of people watch the Super Bowl for the football or the commercial, so many good ones, some viewers this year will look to catch a glimpse of a special guest in the stands. Pop superstar Taylor Swift, whose clout could make this the most watched Super Bowl show ever. Fans are already placing bets on the couple getting engaged on Sunday.

Shout out to the Kansas City Swifts, as someone should probably rename it. What was surprising was this really extreme reaction on the far right. And I mean, you know, these are on the far, far right. And that's all this chatter about this kind of deeper level of Swift-Kelsey conspiracy about like the NFL being rigged, right? So take me down the rabbit hole. Can you break that down for me?

The root conspiracy theory is that this Super Bowl will be rigged in favor of the Chiefs. The Chiefs will, the NFL has already decided that the Chiefs will win the Super Bowl in a conspiracy with the Biden administration and the Pentagon, known as a PSYOP, to elevate Taylor Swift's profile even more than it's already been elevated. And then to have her endorse Joe Biden as president in November so that he can beat Trump for the second time and maintain hold of office and prevent Donald Trump, who, of course,

had the election stolen from him in 2020, from ascending his rightful place as emperor of the United States forever and ever. But you don't really need a conspiracy theory to imagine that Democrats, you know, might be hoping for a Swift endorsement. I like it. She she she endorsed she endorsed Biden in 2020. Pop superstar Taylor Swift announced her support for Democrat Joe Biden in an interview with V Magazine. Swift said, quote, I will proudly vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this year's presidential election. Under their leadership, I believe America has a chance to start the healing process it so desperately needs. There's always a real point in any conspiracy. Like there's always a little grain of truth in a conspiracy theory or a good one, right?

That's what makes them so juicy, I guess. Right. Because celebrity endorsements are perfectly normal. They're also legal and Swift endorsed Biden in 2020, as you said. through a conspiracy sieve and be like, hmm, very curious that the Biden administration would want a celebrity to endorse him when a celebrity isn't a politician. Don't you find that curious? Hmm. Going back to Trump, I've been no end fascinated by how he's responded to her popularity. Can you tell me what he said? The reports have been that he has groused privately that people are under the impression that Taylor Swift is more popular

than he is. And he believes that to be a lie. In Donald Trump's brain, he is the most popular, important, and consequential person who has ever lived. And anyone who says otherwise clearly, clearly has some sort of vendetta out against him and they're treating him very unfairly and very badly. And they must be dealt with very strongly. Before we move on, I just, I have a more serious question. Like, how can we know that you're not a psyops asset? Oh my God. You've got me Damon. Oh no. But so my cover's blown. Thank you so much. You I'm sorry. Well, you know, it's this kind of accountability journalism takes. Yeah. I mean, that is, that is the beauty of these

things, right? Is that they are so ludicrous and so dumb that you can apply them to any news story, any person, and you can rope anybody into it that you want because you can just be like oh oh you think it's dumb oh maybe you maybe you were paid off by the department of misinformation yourself buddy well i mean i like truly i think that's what i find interesting like you know if we go down the rabbit holes that open up in the rabbit hole there's this whole theory that taylor swift is wrapped up with billionaire investor george soros right? And anyone who's been following it knows he's a target for QAnon believers, also anti-Semites. So tell me about that. Okay. So that was an OAN hostess who noted that, and she said outright, oh, well, Taylor Swift is owned by George Soros and so is her music. Now,

George Soros, if you don't know, is a prominent Democratic megadonor and a billionaire, and he stands in essentially for all Republican conspiracy theories because there is a more than anti-Semitic dog whistle every time they bring up the name Soros. It beats saying the Jews just outright. They can just say Soros and have that go out to all the people who will nod and be like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the Soros.

We get it. We get it, our fellow white dragons. with a an outfit called the carlisle group that helped scooter braun the talent manager in hollywood they helped fund his takeover of taylor swift's original song catalog the one that she is now in the middle of re-recording but the other thing of course is that taylor swift is remarkably unhappy about all of this so much so that she was willing to that's why she's re-recording yeah yeah she was willing to redo her entire recording all of her recordings so that she was willing to... Yeah, that's why she's re-recording. Yeah, she was willing to redo her entire recording, all of her recordings, so that she would own her masters yet again.

So the idea that the guy who pissed her off the most is able to order her around and also owns her entirely, that stretches the bounds of credulity, I would say. And then, not that facts really matter here too, but I mean, I was looking into this too too but i think that shamrock holdings which is a private equity firm owned by roy disney has actually bought those rights now too so i don't think they're even in scuda braun or source fund management whoever's in right don't see it's all connected it goes to

disney which supports trans rights so disney i to say, just giving you more fodder. Yep. Yep. Yeah. It's all connected. It's we're going to bring it all the way back to the Manson family. If we can, if we can pull them off. Well, let me just make another connection here.

You brought up trans rights. Yes. Travis Kelsey has done ads for Bud Light. Yes, he has. Bud Light. Yes, he has. Bud Light did a promo stretch with Dylan Mulvaney, who's a trans TikTok star. Yep.

This month I celebrated my day 365 of womanhood, and Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever, a can with my face on it. And that kind of blew some folks' gasket, I mean, on the extreme far right, and the deep conspiracy-minded folks did not like that. Kid Rock made his feelings known when he posted this video shooting up cases of Bud Light. The other thing that Travis Kelsey has also done ads for is Pfizer vaccines.

Travis, did you know you can get this season's COVID-19 shot when you get your flu shot? Oh, two things at once. Two things at once. Which some folks have not. Like Aaron Rodgers has really been not cool with that. He calls Aaron Rodgers, I should mention, is an anti-vax quarterback. He calls Kelsey Mr. Pfizer now. You know, our defense played well.

And, you know, Pat didn't have a crazy game. And, you know, Mr. Pfizer, we kind, you know, our defense played well and, and, you know, uh, Pat didn't have a crazy game and, uh, you know, Mr. Pfizer, we kind of shut him down a little bit and have, you know, his like crazy impact game.

What a bird. He won't recover. So yeah, like online sports books have, have a ton of bets about Taylor Swift at the Superbowl. So, you know, like,

uh, the shades of lipstick she'll wear, whether Kelsey will propose, whether they'll announce a pregnancy, you know, it goes on and on. Well, I mean, it's ever since online sports books were essentially legalized here in the United States, they're not legal in every state, but most of them, and those dominoes will fall eventually. Those outfits started off actually losing money, but they found that there was a way to reverse their losses by offering more in-game betting and more complicated bets to people, particularly parlays where you make three bets at once and all of them have to hit for you to get

a larger payoff. And it's essentially, we're going from the even odds of picking against the spread into more sort of Powerball territory, right? Not quite as distant as Powerball. But so the more of those kinds of bets you can offer, and regardless of how menial and how dumb they are, actually even better if they're menial and dumb. I know that you are focused on winning your own ring. Do you know there's an actual bet that you guys get married at the Super Bowl? What do you say to that? These bets are crazy.

And the more different kinds of bets you can offer, particularly when you're able to involve this icon of entertainment who is bringing people into football and uh by that way sports betting in ways that they would otherwise not have been brought into it well then that's just another opportunity for them to capitalize on on basically newbie gamers who are either gambling for fun or suddenly are gambling seriously but have no idea what they're doing right it's the it's the gateway bet in some ways. Yeah. And that's a legit conspiracy. That actually has teeth to it. But that's not anything that Ted Cruz is going to complain about. In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection.

Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization. Empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you. Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo,

50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together to listen to this podcast. Just search for money for cups. So the halftime, the halftime show is usher. It is. This guy's getting none of the attention right now.'s not he's not but i mean that's sort of

it's it's funny because you would always think oh well taylor switch would be a natural for the super bowl halftime show but she is i i'm pretty sure the only performer in the world who doesn't need it she is bigger than the super bowl and so it's a waste of her time when she can pack that exact same stadium for just one of her time when she can pack that exact same stadium for just one of her own concerts. She doesn't need a football. She didn't need a Super Bowl for, for any of that. She is the Super Bowl everywhere she goes. And, you know, you know, poor Usher, you know, I kind of want to feel bad for him, but like once halftime cuts, first of all, he's going to be the center of the attention secondly if you've ever seen taylor

swift an award show she stands up and cheers for other artists so hard it it's almost like i don't actually know if she actually likes these people but she wants to be seen liking these people so she's gonna cheer her ass off for usher and again everyone will win and it'll be great especially for joe biden joe b of course, stands to gain the most. It is going to be super amusing. This is a fun conversation, but there's like, there's a real serious point here. Like when it comes to the conspiracies,

you know, we've seen this like since 2016, these conspiracies pervading American politics, you know, have grown like crazy. Yep. Well, I guess like there's a serious question. What does it say about American politics that this kind of thinking is now being applied to football? It's just another sign of right-wing incoherence here in the United States. And it has grown, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's only grown more incoherent

over the past decade. And if you want the real world consequences of it, that is happening right now in Congress because the Republicans in Congress have stonewalled Democrats at every turn to get dramatic legislation passed that they like. Democrats gave them a little bit and they got all this sort of stern, they got all this legislation written up

for aid to Israel, aid to the Ukraine, extra border protection, all this stuff. And then Republicans themselves sabotaged that legislation and right now cannot do anything because they, as a governing party, are utterly incoherent. You've written that after the Super Bowl, you expect conspiracies to keep forming around different sports, different pop culture figures, you know, leading News and Newsmax and all these other far right news organizations. They're not going to sit there for a month and not talk about anything. First of all, they need something to talk about. And secondly, they need something to be angry about. Everything is based on grievance and grudges and, you know, hatred. They don't like facts either very much.

Right. So any anti-fact that they can glom onto, concoct, you know share amongst one another they're going to do and that's not going to end just because the super bowl is over so you know we get we'll get into march madness and caitlin clark the most you know you know the biggest superstar in college basketball male or female right now she'll be dragged into it somehow uh you know when uh you know, when the NBA finals begin and if LeBron James makes it, well, you know, he was someone who called president Trump a bum on Twitter. And then, you know, when we get to the beginning of the NFL season again in September and Travis and Taylor are still dating, maybe they're engaged. Well, that,

you know, that's even deeper. Like it's always, it's never going to end. Not that I've needed any excuses to drink at my father-in-law's Superbowl party, but I'm definitely going to have some drinks on Sunday. Yeah, you should. I mean, it's the Superbowl. Live it up. All right. Listen, Drew, that was great. I really appreciate you coming on. It's fun talking to you and, um, you know, we'll, we'll see what happens on Sunday. My pleasure. Happy Superbowl.

You too. That's all for today. Front Burner was produced this week by Rafferty Baker, Joyta Shagupta, Matt Mews, Dennis Kalnan, Ali Janes, and Derek VanderWijk. Sound design was by Mackenzie Cameron, Marco Luciano, and Sam McNulty. Music is by Joseph Shabison. Our senior producer is Elaine Chao. Our executive producer is Nick McCabe-Locos. And I'm Damon Fairless. Thanks for listening.

For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.