Taylor Swift has revealed the real reason she prefers to sit out the Super Bowl halftime show — and it’s not because her fiancé, Travis Kelce, doesn’t approve.
The pop superstar, currently on a press tour for her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, addressed the online speculation during a Monday appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Asked by host Fallon if there was any truth to rumors that she turned down an offer to perform the Super Bowl halftime show because the NFL wouldn’t let her keep the footage, Swift, 35, emphatically responded no.
“Jay-Z has always been very good to me,” she said of the Roc Nation founder, adding, “our teams are really close. They sometimes will call and say, ‘How does she feel about the Super Bowl?’” The “Empire State of Mind” rapper has been an integral part of selecting the Super Bowl halftime performers since 2019, when Roc Nation partnered with the NFL.
“And that’s not, like, an official offer or like a conference-room conversation,” she clarified, reiterating, “our teams are really close, ‘How does she feel about it in general?’”
Swift continued: “And we’re always able to tell him the truth, which is that I am in love with a guy who does that sport on that actual field. Like that is violent chess, that is gladiators without swords, that is dangerous. The whole season, I am locked in on what that man is doing on the field.
“Can you imagine if he’s out there every single week, putting his life on the line, doing this very, very high-pressure, high-intensity sports, and I’m like, ‘I wonder what my choreo should be,’” she quipped, assuring that “this [has] nothing to do with Travis, he would love for me to do it. I’m just too locked in.”
Ever since the Grammy-winning “Cruel Summer” artist started dating the Kansas City Chiefs tight end in 2023, fans have eagerly been hoping it would lead to a Super Bowl halftime performance.
Online chatter only grew louder after her surprise appearance on Kelce’s New Heights podcast in August, with many convinced she had subtly left signs that she was taking the halftime stage in February.
However, last month it was announced that the 2026 Super Bowl will welcome Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny to the halftime stage.
The selection of the global music superstar, who’s been a vocal critic of the Trump administration and ICE raids, has prompted right-wing outrage.
“I don’t know who he is, I don’t know why they’re doing it, it’s like, crazy,” President Donald Trump told NewsMax’s Greg Kelly in a recent interview. “Then they blame it on some promoter that they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
