Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley said he doesn’t understand why fans booed pop superstar Taylor Swift when she was shown on the videoboards at the Caesars Superdome during Super Bowl LIX.
“I remember that they showed her on the jumbotron, and she got booed. I don’t get it. I don’t get why she was getting hate there,” Barkley said Wednesday during an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show” on SiriusXM.
Barkley’s response came after he was asked if he thought Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, would get engaged. He didn’t have an opinion on that question but, unprompted, came to the defense of Swift.
“We’re trying to expand the game, and her being a part of it is only helping it. I don’t get the dislike she’s getting.”
Saquon Barkley, on Taylor Swift
He credited Swift with helping to grow the popularity of the NFL.
“She was there supporting her significant other, and she’s made the game bigger,” Barkley said. “In football we’re all about, ‘How can we expand the game and make it more [international]?’ We’re traveling to Brazil, we’re traveling to Mexico. Apparently, we’re traveling to Australia soon. We’re trying to expand the game, and her being a part of it is only helping it. I don’t get the dislike she’s getting.”
Swift, who grew up near Philadelphia but now roots for the Chiefs and Kelce, was booed when shown alongside rapper Ice Spice during the first quarter Sunday night. She appeared to mouth “What’s going on” in response to the booing.
Many of the boos Sunday night likely came from Eagles fans. Barkley, however, has been embraced by the team’s supporters after leaving the New York Giants to sign in Philadelphia last offseason and enjoying a historic season in which he rushed for 2,476 yards, the most in a single season, including playoffs.
“They just shower you with love,” Barkley said of the team’s fans. “And it’s been pretty cool for me and my family ’cause kind of how things ended in New York. There was always love and support there, but things didn’t end off on a great note, I guess you could say. And to be able to come here and just the way how they’ve taken me in and my family in, and my daughter is the star here. They love my little daughter. So it’s been pretty cool.”
