Take a look at what unfolded. Just moments after Travis Kelce made a surprising cameo on the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” hosted by Pete Davidson, Taylor Swift, the global superstar, had an unexpected appearance of her own.
Swift graced the screen after a commercial break to introduce her friend, Ice Spice, for the second performance of the evening. This marked Swift’s return to “SNL” for the fifth time; her previous appearance was in 2021 when she delivered a memorable 10-minute performance of “All Too Well.”
Earlier in the evening, an NFL Fox Sunday sketch humorously poked fun at the buzz surrounding Swift and Kelce’s rumored romance. The sketch featured Kenan Thompson as Curt Menefee, Mikey Day as Howie Long, James Austin Johnson as Jimmy Johnson, Devon Walker as Michael Strahan, and Molly Kearney as Terry Bradshaw. Following a slew of Swift-related puns, Thompson turned to the camera and quipped, “When we get back, we are going to speak with someone who actually wants to talk football.” At that moment, Kelce appeared, enthusiastically replying, “Yes, please!”
While neither Kelce nor Swift appeared on stage at the end of the show, Davidson expressed his gratitude to both of them for their participation.
Since Swift began attending Kansas City Chiefs games to support Kelce, she has become a prominent topic of conversation in the NFL. Her presence at games has notably boosted TV ratings. The first game she attended attracted 24.3 million viewers on Fox, and the second, where she was accompanied by many A-list friends, averaged 27 million viewers on NBC and Peacock. She also attended Kelce’s game on a Thursday night, though Amazon Prime Video has yet to release viewership numbers.
Notably, this is a significant week for Swift personally, as her movie, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” raked in an impressive $39 million on its opening day, which includes the $2.8 million generated from Thursday previews.