Taylor Swift’s passionate kiss with tight end Travis Kelce in the joy of the end of the game, the notes of Love story from the album Fearless in the background while red, yellow and white confetti rained down on the stadium: after the heart-pounding finale of an epic game, the Kansas City Chiefs confirmed themselves as champions at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas against the 49ers of San Francisco: 25-22 the result after overtime in which the African-American quarterback Patrick Mahomes confirmed himself as the heir in all respects of the invincible Tom Brady.
“We are waiting for you at the White House. With three victories in five seasons the Chiefs are not just champions, they are a dynasty”, President Joe Biden proclaimed on in recent years they had raised the specter of a Pentagon-rigged victory for the Chiefs followed by Taylor’s endorsement of the Democratic candidate.
Trump was bitter: “There’s no way she’ll support him, I made her earn too much money”, the tycoon hissed before the match to still have his say with the electorate. Politics aside (the independent and anti-vaxxer candidate Robert Kennedy Jr made an appearance with an advert cloned from his uncle JFK’s campaign), it was an electrifying night of great sport culminating in a 3-yard touchdown pass by Mahomes to Mecole Hardman with 3 seconds left. For the Chiefs it is the second Lombardi Cup in two years (after 2023 against the Philadelphia Eagles) and the fourth overall (1970, 2020, 2023 and 2024).
“Viva Las Vegas” Kelce shouted at the top of his lungs, holding the trophy named in memory of former Italian-American champion Vince Lombardi in his hand. With other celebrities acting as extras (Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Beyonce, Kim Kardashian with a new flame, Paul McCartney, Jared Leto, Haley and Justin Bieber, Elon Musk and even Kanye West who has a history of grudges with Taylor ), Kelce and Swift were the protagonists of the TV event which is by far the most followed in the country and which keeps over one hundred million viewers glued to the small screen (the last legacy, it has been said, of the pre- Internet) to which Swift fans joined this year. Arriving from Japan after four concerts of her The Eras tour, Taylor had taken a seat in the million-dollar VIP box with her extended family: Travis’ parents and brother Jason, who plays with the Philadelphia Eagles, but also her mother and dad Swift and little brother Austin, plus friends Blake Lively (ex Gossip Girls) and rapper Ice Spice with whom she duetted in the remake of Karma.
And karma was in the front row in the match in which the 49ers, hungry for victory since 1995, started with the advantage. The San Francisco team, led to a Super Bowl for the first time by 24-year-old quarterback Brock Purdy, had last reached the final in 2020 and had been defeated by the Chiefs, so yesterday’s result was even more suffered. There are many viral moments captured on television: the beer Taylor downed in one gulp, the altercation between Travis and 65-year-old coach Andy Reid which sparked countless memes on social media. Mahomes – at 28 years old and in his fourth Super Bowl, the first African-American quarterback to have won three times and the third in the history of the NFL to have won three under the age of 30 – gave unrepeatable emotions and promised the fans an encore. At half time, the mid-game show, Usher reigned: the R&B superstar had invited Alicia Keys, Little Jon, to accompany him in his first performance at the Super Bowl (he had also been a guest of the Black Eyed Peas). Ludacris and ERA in a medley of 14 hits from a 30-year career summed up in just 13 minutes.
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