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Taylor Swift was not at Sunday’s (Oct. 8) Chiefs-Vikings game, where rumored romantic interest Travis Kelce sustained an injury. Earlier in the game, which was televised on CBS, on-air commentator Jim Nantz confirmed that Swift was nowhere to be seen at Minneapolis, Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium.
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“In case you’re wondering, seven words I never thought would leave my lips in my career: Taylor Swift is not at the game,” Nantz announced. “That’s a first. I’ve never said that before. There’s some brokenhearted people I just saw in the stands.”
The camera panned to a Swift fan holding up a sign, and holding on to the hope of her appearing. Her sign asked what many were thinking: “Where’s Taylor?” A photo from Getty Images, seen below, shows another fan displaying a clever sign, noting that 87 (Kelce’s number) and 13 (Swift’s lucky number) equals 100%. “Kelce make a Swift TD,” it read.
A fan holds up a sign in reference to Taylor Swift prior to a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Oct. 8, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Others in the stands were shown wearing jerseys that read “SWIFTIE” on the back.
While Swift was not there to cheer on Kelce in person, as she has for the last two Chiefs games, the tight end seemingly tripped on the field’s turf and sustained a non-contact injury. Kelce was seen leaving the field, throwing off his helmet and heading to the locker room.
Kelce returned to the sideline with a securely wrapped right ankle.
Commentator Tracy Wolfson gave an update: “Travis Kelce is still on the sideline right now, but as you can see, helmet on, that right foot is wrapped up. I was just told he’s gonna try and give it a go. They’re leaving it up to him. He wants to play in this game, guys.”
Kelce reportedly suffered what is assumed to be high ankle sprain. Reports said that medical staff cleared Kelce to return if he wanted to. He ultimately rejoined the game and, soon after his return, scored a touchdown.
“Kelce comes off the X-ray table and finds the endzone,” the announcer said.
See what happened to Kelce at the Chiefs-Vikings game below. Plus, scroll through several Swift/football fan reactions to both the singer being absent at Sunday’s game and Kelce’s injury.
Chiefs get good news on Travis Kelce.Tracy Wolfson: “Travis Kelce still on the sideline right now but as you can see, helmet on. That right foot is wrapped up. And I was just told he’s gonna try to give it a go. They’re leaving it up to him. He wants to play in this game.” pic.twitter.com/y8bQdTWZeo— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 8, 2023
not me searching “Taylor Swift” and repeatedly refreshing the feed to find out if she’s actually at the Vikings/Chiefs game while also watching the game— Sam Sansevere (@samsansevere) October 8, 2023
my mom turned on the chiefs game just to see if Taylor was there 🥹— lindsay 🫶🏻 (@shimmerrswift) October 8, 2023
I’m at a party watching the Vikings-Chiefs game but people are starting to file out now that it’s been announced that Taylor Swift is not there— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2023
I just realized how boring it is to watch the Chiefs game if Taylor Swift isn’t there…😴— Diane Beeman (@BeemanDibmn) October 8, 2023
@Chiefs would it be possible to send me a schedule of games Taylor will be attending? I need to know which games to watch. Thanks!Kidding/not kidding— g o’quinn (@goquinn15) October 8, 2023
Travis Kelce hurt?! Damn. Taylor Swift really IS his good luck charm. Chiefs fan hating on her should be ashamed right now.— Brooke (@CryptoCur1821) October 8, 2023
I would like to thank all the Swifties out there for praying for Travis Kelce and bringing him back to life.@NFL #KCvsMIN— Clark Schuyler (@cschuyler935) October 8, 2023
Before Olivia Rodrigo takes her latest album GUTS on tour, she’ll play the project in full at a one-off concert Monday night (Oct. 9) at LA’s Theatre at the Ace Hotel. The concert is exclusively for American Express card holders as part of their Member Week. According to AmEx, concertgoers will be immersed in the […]
The competition in The Debut: Dream Academy continues to heat up, as four more girls say goodbye to their chances of making the final cut for HYBE x Geffen’s global girl group.
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The latest eliminations came on Sunday (Oct. 8), after the second of the competition’s three missions ended. The second mission, which took place in South Korea at the famed Training & Development (T&D) facility, required the remaining contestants to put their individual skills on the back burner and enhance their ability to work in a group with the other girls.
LE SSERAFIM’s catalog was the theme for the mission, with the remaining 18 contestants getting split up into four groups. The first two groups danced (Team A – Emily, Yoonchae, Lara and Sophia) and sang (Team B – Iliya, Karlee, Samara and Megan) to the K-pop group’s hit “ANTIFRAGILE,” while the latter two groups sang (Team A – Lexie, Marquise, Mei, Brooklyn and Nayoung) and danced (Team B – Daniela, Manon, Ua, Ezrela and Celeste) to “Fearless.”
In addition to performing to LE SSERAFIM’s tracks, the K-pop group surprised the girls at the Dream Academy with an appearance, and played a prank on the budding stars pretending to film content. The remaining 18 contestants also held a Q&A session with fans in Seoul to chat about the competition, perform the LE SSERAFIM tracks and give away prizes.
After the second mission concluded, fans voted via Weverse and YouTube to pick which of the contestant should remain in the competition. Brooklyn (USA), Mei (Japan), Karlee (USA) and Iliya (Belarus) were all chosen to go home, leaving 14 girls in the competition.
Brooklyn
Courtesy of HYBE x Geffen Records
Iliya
Courtesy of HYBE x Geffen Records
Mei
Courtesy of HYBE x Geffen Records
Karlee
Courtesy of HYBE x Geffen Records
Once the third mission wraps, the remaining 10 girls will perform at the show’s live finale, which is set to take place on Nov. 17. The name of the group and its final members will be revealed after the finale.
Watch LE SSERAFIM surprise the girls of Dream Academy in the video below.
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Fans around the globe are rallying for their personal favorite contestants in creative ways, including two contestants who had their supporters surprise them with their own billboards. Both Sophia (Philippines) and Celeste (Argentina) had billboards made for them in their home countries. See below for TikToks of Sophia’s and Celeste’s fan-made billboards.
Travis Kelce has long prided himself on his ability to compartmentalize his personal life and his professional life. That ability has been put to the test the past few weeks.
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Ever since the All-Pro tight end’s budding relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift surfaced shortly before the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears last month, Kelce has become an A-list headline-maker in his own right. He learned that when paparazzi staked out Swift’s apartment in New York last week, capturing the moment he walked out the morning before the Chiefs played the Jets, while other photographers have been scoping out his own residence in the Kansas City area.
“We’re learning with the paparazzi taking photos from all over the place,” Kelce admitted during a press conference Friday (Oct. 6), “but at the same time, you know, it comes with it. You’ve got a lot of people that care about Taylor, and for good reason. You’ve just got to keep living and learning and enjoying the moments.”
Neither of the parties have divulged much about their rumored relationship, and Kelce didn’t go into details Friday when he spoke to the media for the first time in weeks. But given that Swift has twice appeared in a suite to watch Kelce play, including alongside his mother Donna Kelce, it is easy to see why there has been such an intense focus on the duo.
The timing couldn’t be much better for either of them.
Kelce turned 34 on Thursday and is much closer to the end of his career than the beginning, and the elevation of his profile will no doubt help his post-football career. His podcast with his brother and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, called New Heights, has soared in popularity, and Kelce’s mustachioed mug is suddenly popping up in advertisements and commercials for everything from State Farm and Hy-Vee to Pfizer and Experian.
Swift is on a break from her Era Tour, but a film about it is due to begin playing in at least 8,500 theaters across 100 countries next week. The movie chain AMC Entertainment Holdings, which happens to be based in suburban Kansas City, said it had sold more than $100 million in advance tickets, and produced the highest single-day ticket revenue in its history.
Meanwhile, the NFL and its broadcast partners are keen to take advantage of the pop culture moment.
Asked whether Kelce was surprised by the sudden interest in him, and his relationship with Swift, he replied: “It’s worldwide, man — worldwide. It’s been magnified for sure.”
All the while, Kelce has been trying to help the Chiefs defend their Super Bowl title. They’ve won three straight after losing their opener to Detroit, and they are favored heading to Minnesota on Sunday. (No word on whether Swift will attend.)
“It felt like I was on top of the world after the Super Bowl and right now even more on top of the world,” Kelce said after Friday afternoon’s practice. “At the end of the day, I have always been pretty good about compartmentalizing and being able to stay focused in this building, so I’ll just keep rolling with that.”
Indeed, Kelce always has juggled a life away from football.
In 2016, he starred in his own reality dating show, coincidentally, called Catching Kelce. He’s pitched plenty of products and services. And he’s played in numerous high-profile golf tournaments, such as a made-for-TV match alongside Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes against the NBA’s Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry just before the start of this season.
Yet none of it has ever affected his performance. Kelce had never missed a game to injury since his rookie season before a hyperextended knee kept him out against the Lions; he has played every game since. And he is riding a streak of at least 1,000 yards receiving in seven straight seasons, resulting in eight trips to the Pro Bowl and four first-team All-Pro nods.
His success is a big reason for the Chiefs’ success. They’ve won the last seven AFC West titles, hosted the last five conference championship games and won two of the three Super Bowls they have appeared in over the past four seasons.
Kelce’s profile has never been higher, though, thanks to the aura that Swift has cast upon him.
“I know I brought this on myself,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate to have fun with it. That’s all that really matters, that it’s not pissing anybody off [within the Chiefs)at least. Like I said earlier, I’ve been pretty good at compartmentalizing and making sure my focus is on winning the game, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.”
What’s that song in the new Survivor commercial? Swifties will recognize it from the first note. Taylor Swift‘s “Mastermind,” from her 2022 Midnights album, plays in a new promo for the 45th season of the CBS reality competition series Survivor. The Swift song placement comes soon after she had 1989‘s “Welcome to New York” featured […]
Doja Cat is catching heat once again for her online antics.
On Friday (Oct. 6), the 27-year-old rapper posted and then deleted a photo of herself on Instagram wearing a shirt with an image of alt-right comic Sam Hyde, who reportedly has ties to the neo-Nazi movement.
Doja’s black tee featured a pic of Hyde holding a rifle, an image often used as a meme on social media in the aftermath of mass shootings.
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Hyde previously served as a co-writer on Adult Swim’s Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace, which was canceled after one reason following complaints of racist and sexist themes, according to Buzzfeed. In 2017, the comedian also pledged $5,000 to neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer after its editor Andrew Anglin faced a legal battle with the Southern Poverty Law Center over his alleged “trolling” against a Jewish woman, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Doja Cat deleted the original Instagram photo featuring Hyde, but later replaced it with a cropped version with his face removed. The second post featured a caption with numerous rolling eyes emojis. The comments section included numerous onlookers expressing their disapproval of the “Paint the Town Red” singer’s choice to post the controversial image.
“why are you hiding your shirt? embarrassed that you’re wearing something with a nazi on it ?” one user wrote. Another added, “girl get it together. this isn’t cute or funny.”
Many fans also took to X (formerly Twitter) to vent their frustrations with the rapper. “imagine being a pick me for incels… like doja cat is really trying her best to be cancelled and un-famous again just so she can get back to those racial chat rooms full time,” one person wrote.
Doja Cat is no stranger to online controversy. Earlier this year, she claimed that her last two albums — 2021’s Planet Her and 2019’s Hot Pink — were “cash grabs” and teased her fanbase for falling for it. She also lost nearly 300,000 social media followers after blasting her fans for calling themselves “Kittenz.” In recent years, Doja came under fire for tweeting homophobic slurs to describe rappers Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, the Creator, and was accused of participating in alt-right chat rooms.
Doja recently dropped her fourth album, Scarlet, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The new set marks her highly anticipated return following Planet Her, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and delivered plenty of Billboard Hot 100 chart hits.
She’ll be heading out on a 24-date trek in support of the album with The Scarlet Tour, which launches on Halloween in San Francisco and wraps Dec. 13 in Chicago. Opening acts include Ice Spice and Doechii.
K-pop girl group (G)I-DLE talks about their first English EP Heat, their fans’ reaction to “Queencard,” what they’ve learned from touring in the U.S., writing their own music and more in an interview with Billboard.
Miyeon:This year we had our solo stages.
Tetris Kelly:What is it like when somebody else is doing their solo stage? Are you, like, backstage, like, drinking water, relaxing, you take a break?
Minnie:Basically we had, like, quick changes, we have to change our outfit, and then maybe take some selfies.
(G)I-DLE:Yeah!
Soyeon:Hi, we are…
(G)I-DLE(G)I-DLE
Minnie:And you’re watching Billboard News!
Tetris Kelly:It’s Tetris with Billboard News, and it’s not every day you get to hang out with (G)I-DLE. Hi, ladies.
Tetris Kelly:So let’s talk about your new music. Heat is out. It’s your first full English-language album. So why now? Why did you decide to do it?
Minnie:It’s our debut EP in the U.S., so we’re super excited about this. And we just wrapped up our U.S. tour and you know, fans have been so supportive. We think that it’s about time to you know, give them back and be more connected to them. So we came up with this album, Heat. So yeah, we hope that they can like it.
Tetris Kelly:Oh, they’re gonna love it! And you gotta help kind of describe the album to me. So tell me, if you could pick three emojis to describe Heat, what are they going to be?
Watch the full interview above!
J-Hope is working hard, and he’s letting fans know. The BTS member shared a message via Weverse on Friday (Oct. 6) to update ARMY on how he’s doing during his mandatory military service in South Korea. “How are you, ARMYs??” he kicked off his note, adding saluting and purple heart emojis to his salutation. “It’s […]
The Renaissance Tour may have ended, but the Blackout is only beginning. Beyoncé gave fans a sneak peek at pieces from her upcoming IVY PARK drop with Adidas on Instagram Thursday (Oct. 5), revealing she wore them in an all-black look on stage during her final Renaissance show earlier this week. Posting photos from her […]
*NSYNC’s first single since 2002, “Better Place,” soars onto multiple Billboard radio airplay charts (dated Oct. 14), following its first week of release.
The song, released Sept. 29 on DreamWorks/RCA Records from the Trolls Band Together soundtrack, due Oct. 20 (ahead of the movie’s expected Nov. 17 premiere), starts at No. 12 on Adult Pop Airplay, No. 13 on Adult Contemporary and No. 16 on Pop Airplay, encompassing airplay Sept. 29-Oct. 5.
(The charts reflect plays on reporting adult pop, adult contemporary and pop-formatted stations, respectively. Airplay is monitored by Mediabase and provided to Billboard by Luminate.)
On both Adult Pop Airplay, which began in Billboard’s pages in March 1996, and Pop Airplay, which originated in October 1992, the entrances are the highest ever for a song by a group. On Adult Contemporary, the arrival is the highest for a group, excluding holiday fare, since Luminate data began powering the chart in July 1993.
Notably, participating pop and adult pop iHeartMedia and Audacy stations played “Better Place” every other hour during the song’s release day, while Cumulus reporters spun it hourly over eight hours that day.
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Upon the chart start of “Better Place,” the song is *NSYNC’s highest charting career hit on Adult Pop Airplay, its No. 12 opening rank surpassing the group’s prior No. 19 best with “Bye Bye Bye” in 2000.
On Adult Contemporary, the act has tallied three top 10s, including the Richard Marx-penned 13-week No. 1 “This I Promise You” in 2000-01.
On Pop Airplay, *NSYNC logged has nine top 10s, from “I Want You Back” in 1998 through “Gone” in 2002. Two songs hit No. 1: “Bye Bye Bye” (for 10 weeks) and “It’s Gonna Be Me” (five), both in 2000.
Meanwhile, the group’s Justin Timberlake bullets with two songs in the current Pop Airplay top 20, as “Keep Going Up!” with Timbaland and Nelly Furtado rises to No. 20. Timberlake notches his first top 20 entry on the chart in three-and-a-half years; as a soloist, he boasts 18 career Pop Airplay top 10s, including eight No. 1s.
Beyond the debut of “Better Place” on individual-format airplay charts, the song is in line to debut on other rankings (dated Oct. 14), including the all-genre multimetric Billboard Hot 100, highlights of which will be announced Monday, Oct. 9.
Ahead of the track’s release, Timberlake shared on Instagram a behind-the-scenes look at the quintet back in the studio. “So many stars aligned and that’s why I hit y’all and was like, ‘Hey, something came up,’” he is heard telling the act. “If we do this song, it’s a love letter to our fans. I would be honored to have the group on this song.”
All charts dated Oct. 14 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Oct. 10.