Fans know Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kelce, as “Tayvis.” Their relationship has garnered a lot of attention due to Swift’s new audience in Kelce’s NFL fandom, her ongoing Eras Tour, and her return to the spotlight after her previous relationship with Joe Alwyn. While some celebrities have shown support for the couple, not everyone is thrilled about the amount of attention they’ve received. Jo Koy’s joke about Swift’s camera time during football games at the 2024 Golden Globes fell flat, and other celebs like Olivia Wilde have expressed fatigue with the constant coverage of their relationship. Anti-Tayvis sentiments seem to be on the rise, with even Bill Maher joining the chorus of those questioning the media’s focus on the couple.football player, and I wear his jersey to the game with his number on it!’ I mean, come on,” he said.
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Maher continued, “He’s gonna dump her, though, You know that? With her, it’s like the Gatorade at the Super Bowl, you know you’re gonna get dumped. You just don’t know when.” His guest, social media star Hailey Welch, lightly defended Swift and wondered about the possibilities of the resulting breakup album. However, Maher called Swift’s habit of singing about her exes “very tacky” and concluded his rant by saying, “It does seem like such a recurrent theme … At some point, you just wanna say, maybe you should write a song called ‘Maybe It’s Me.'”
While Swifties and Tayvis shippers are predictably incensed by Maher’s comments, he wasn’t totally negative about their idol. Still, his faint praise wasn’t enough to stop them from swarming after him in droves.
Swifties have it out for Bill Maher
Throughout his career, Bill Maher has made enemies all across the political aisle, including his former friend, Howard Stern. But with the Swifties gunning for him, he might have met his most formidable match yet. That said, Maher did bookend his harsh takes on Swift with a few compliments.
While broaching the subject of country music with his guest Hailey Welch, Maher was the first one to mention Swift. He began, “I liked her more when she was country. I love ‘Sparks Fly.'” When Welch asked if he was being genuine, Maher replied, “Would I have name-checked it if I didn’t? … I don’t think I’d put it on purposely to like, commune with it, but it’s in my playlist. I love it.” Maher came back with more props for Swift after delving into his gloomy take on her and Kelce’s relationship. “I’m an admirer. The Beatles, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, other musical performers who’ve had immense careers like this when they’ve dominated beyond just mere culture … and she has too. So I have to put her in that pantheon.”
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Still, the damage was already done for many Swifties. One fan tweeted, “Another deeply unfamous and unfunny man taking shots at Taylor’s personal life by calling her songwriting tacky.” Another fan agreed, saying, “Bill Maher making embarrassingly outdated jokes about Taylor Swift writing songs about her exes and ‘maybe she should write a song called ‘Maybe It’s Me’ is wildly par for the course. Imagine thinking you’re funny but using a 2009 trope as your reference. What a clown.”
