Taylor’s Beer, Satanism, and Feet Washing: Right Wingers Spent The Super Bowl Complaining

Plenty of American traditions surround Super Bowl Sunday: good food, overproduced commercials, the Puppy Bowl, and having octopi (and other animals) predict the game’s outcome are just a few. But in recent years one tradition has consistently threatened to ruin everyone’s fun, that being right-wingers spending more time fuming about their pet political and cultural grievances than actually enjoying the game.

Sunday night’s championship saw the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers to defend their title and win their fourth franchise title in a first-half snoozer-turned-overtime-nail-biter that had fans on the edge of their seats until its final seconds. The game was already primed to be rage bait for conservative commentators, who had spent the run-up to the game griping about Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift, while ginning up unhinged conspiracy theories about the deep state rigging the game.

And rage bait the broadcast was. Here’s a rundown of everything that irked conservatives Sunday night.

1. Taylor Swift chugging a beer

Like most people at the game, Taylor Swift seemed to be having a great time. At one point, the music star, fresh off a four-show stint in Japan, was shown on the jumbotron chugging a beer — a thing no one has ever done at a football game.

“Taylor Swift enjoying herself at the Super Bowl pounding beers with Satanists,” right-wing Rumble host Drew Hernandez wrote on X.

“Gross. We don’t need to be glorifying public intoxication,”  pro-Trump activist Laura Loomer  wrote on X. “Imagine being a parent and saying this woman is a role model for your daughter… Do people want their daughters to be drunks with high body counts? I prefer my icons to be like Donald Trump: SOBER.

1. Ice Spice making “Satanic” symbols

If Taylor Swift downing her drink wasn’t enough to make you clutch your pearls, would you believe that rapper Ice Spice was secretly signaling her support for Satanism while she did it?

Right-wingers went into a frenzy when they realized the same clip of Swift showed Ice Spice making “devil horns” signs with her hands. A symbol so occult and sinister there’s even an emoji for it: 🤘

“Here’s something you don’t usually see at the Super Bowl: Demon summoning,” former Fox News producer Kyle Becker wrote on X.

Real America’s Voice host Ben Bergquam was similarly incensed. “God rebuke the evil and witchcraft of this generation,” he wrote on X. “Taylor Swift in all black chugging while her friend Ice Spice wearing an upside down cross signs to the devil. It’s all spiritual warfare. This generation needs Yahshua!”

1. The Jesus ads were too woke

He Gets Us, a conservative Christian advertising campaign ran multiple ads during Sunday’s broadcast. The initiative is heavily backed by the billionaire Green family, the owners of Hobby Lobby, who have poured millions of dollars into anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives.

One ad used the biblical story of Jesus washing the feet of his followers as a template to present images of individuals representing opposing ideologies washing each other’s feet: a police officer washing the feet of a Black man, an anti-abortion protester washing the feet of a woman outside of a family planning clinic, a priest washing the feet of an LGBTQ+ man — ou get it. “Jesus washed the feet of friends and enemies. No ego or hate. He humbly loved his neighbors,” the group wrote on X (formerly Twitter) How can we do the same?”

The ad incensed conservative commentators, who accused the organization of promoting a “heretical” message of acceptance and countering Jesus never actually advocated for tolerance.

“This organization has millions of dollars to spend on Super Bowl ads pushing heretical bullshit to a mass audience,” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh wrote.

1. Travis Kelce’s pre-game outfit

Travis Kelce arrived at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium wearing a sparkling black suit. Some on the right could not stand how bejeweled he was. “Straight men do not dress like this,” wrote Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec.

“Hi. This is NOT a man. That’s all,” raged online edgelord Benny Johnson.

1. Andrea Day performing “Lift Every Voice And Sing”

The Super Bowl has become as much about spectacle and performance as it has about football. During the pre-game show, Grammy award winner Andrea Day performed the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a song often referred to as “The Black National Anthem.”

The national anthem itself was performed by country singer Reba McEntire, and rapper Post Malone delivered a rendition of “America the Beautiful,” but the inclusion of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was a step too far for the right, which remains opposed to any public display that might reference the struggle of Black Americans.

“They’re desecrating America’s National Anthem by playing something called the ‘Black National Anthem,’” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wrote on X, adding that he’d informed his wife they wouldn’t be watching the game because of the performance.

Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly agreed, writing that “the so-called Black National Anthem does not belong at the Super Bowl. We already have a National Anthem and it includes EVERYONE.”

1. Pfizer and the vaccine

Travis Kelce has already been demonized by the right for his endorsement of the Covid-19 vaccine, and his advertising partnership with Pfizer, one of its major producers. The pharmaceutical giant took out an ad during the Super Bowl this year touting its efforts in the field of cancer research — and the conspiracy brains couldn’t handle it.

“Look at Pfizers Super Bowl Ad – targeting…..you guessed it – CANCER,” wrote the account Concerned Citizens, which boasts over 180,000 followers. “Did you know Pfizer ‘mRNA vaccines’ tested positive for SV40 which is a known Cancer Inhibitor? Cancers up EVERYWHERE post mRNA Roll out – create problem, offer solution. Make no mistake these people are pure evil.”

There is no evidence linking the Covid-19 vaccine to an increase in nationwide cancer diagnoses.

Kelce himself also took heat from conservative commentators over his vaccination status. After he aggressively complained to coach Reid on the sidelines about having to sit out a play, the fever swamps attempted to link his anger to vaccine-induced rage.

“Vaxxed out of his mind” Candace Owens, host at the Daily Wire, wrote.

That’s what happens “when you wash down your 7th Pfizer jab with Bud Light tr***y water,” wrote commentator Liz Wheeler.

Pro-Trump troll account Cattrud wrote that they “didn’t watch the Super Bowl,” but were
“enjoying [Kelce’s] photo of booster roid-rage though and all the funny memes.”

1. The Chiefs winning the game

In the lead-up to Super Bowl LVIII, long-standing conspiracy theories around the NFL’s “scriptwriting” for football seasons clashed with right-wing conspiracy theorists claiming Swift’s involvement with Kelce is part of a deep-state plot to gin up support for President Joe Biden in the 2024 election.

Even after some Republicans joined the likes of everyone sane and told their more extreme counterparts to tone down the crazy, they haven’t fully managed to stem the flow of nonsense.

“So… How long do we have before Taylor Swift starts trying to force Biden down our throats?” The Daily Wire wrote on X.

“As predicted, KC wins. And, in a dramatic overtime win, too. Stay tuned for more of the scripted Taylor $ Travis love story – paid for by big pharma. Predictable,” wrote failed GOP candidate Jack Lombardi II.

Hours before the game began, Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that there was “no way” Swift would ever endorse Biden.

“I signed and was responsible for the Music Modernization Act for Taylor Swift and all other Musical Artists,” he wrote Sunday. “Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will. There’s no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt President in the History of our Country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money.”

Biden’s X account poked fun at the conspiracy theories after the game on Sunday.

“Just like we drew it up,” the president captioned a photo of the “Dark Brandon” meme.

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