On X, videos of the moment described by McNeal show the camera panning towards Swift, who is dating Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, and a chorus of boos breaks out.

“To me, the disparate reactions felt like a message,” McNeal continued. “That the Super Bowl, one of the biggest cultural events in the country, has been reclaimed by Trump and the type of toxic masculinity he appears to be the beacon of. And he and his supporters seem to be living for it.”

President Donald Trump made history on Sunday as the first sitting president to ever attend a Super Bowl, and when his face appeared on the jumbotron, it was met with enthusiastic cheers.

“Perhaps the moment would have felt less visceral if not for the fact that less than an hour earlier the crowd had exploded—this time with applause—to see Trump on that same screen,” McNeal said. “As an image of the president, stonefaced and standing in a salute, was shown to the crowd during Jon Batiste’s national anthem performance, the roar of approval and cheers was deafening (of course, there were those in the crowd who booed the president and cheered for Swift as well, but from my vantage point, it was clear what the overall sentiment was).”

Following the game, Trump posted on his Truth Social account, “The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!”

In October 2018, Swift said she voted for Democratic Tennessee Senate candidate Phil Bredesen, and endorsed him in an Instagram post with a photo of her and her mother.

“These two Tennessee women voted for the candidate who has proven himself to be reasonable and trustworthy. We want leadership, not fear-based extremism,” Swift said in the post. “Early voting goes till Thursday and Election Day is November 6. Please don’t sit this one out.”

Bredesen lost to Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., at the time and Blackburn was re-elected to a second term in the Senate on Nov. 5, 2024.

Swift also took to Instagram to endorse former Vice President Kamala Harris for president in a Sept. 10, 2024 post.

“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Swift said. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

McNeal said she felt that the boos for Swift and cheers for Trump had everything to do with misogyny.

“I was there at the game,” McNeal said. “When Swift’s face appeared on the Jumbotron, an almost instant—and distinctly male—dissent erupted from around me.”

But she does point out that other famous women were also shown, such as Lady Gaga and Anne Hathaway, who were not met with any sort of contempt.

McNeal maintained the negative reaction to Swift stems from an “undercurrent of hatred.”

“In the stands last night, though, it felt like the bros were winning. As they jeered and booed, I could hear the undercurrent of hatred and felt the real-life manifestation of the trolling I had previously only seen virtually. Trump is president, they seemed to say, and the era of inclusivity in the NFL is over. Swift, and all of us who have had fun watching her in her WAG era, need to be put in our place. It felt gross and mean.”