The Chiefs aren’t escaping favoritism accusations anytime soon. From NFL Hall of Famers to NBA analysts and even celebrities many people have been vocal about how when you play the Chiefs you are up against the refs as well. Not only that, but they have managed to drag Taylor Swift into the equation as well. Well, the controversy isn’t going away anytime soon after another famous name brought up the influence of Travis Kelce’s sweetheart in aiding the Chiefs’ three-peat bid.

When the Chiefs overcame the Texans in the divisional round encounter, a couple of debatable calls became the point of discussion after the game and both of them involved Patrick Mahomes. Then in the AFC Championship game, the Bills were on the receiving end of some contentious decisions. One of them featured an alleged wrong call on their star QB Josh Allen.

Buffalo was leading 22-21 at the start of the fourth quarter when Allen ran for no gain on fourth-and-1. Allen appeared to have picked up a yard on the play, but officials ruled him short, resulting in a Bills turnover. The Chiefs scored a touchdown on their very next possession to take a 29-22 lead.

While the Bills players played down the referring calls, Old Dads actor and comedian Bill Burr didn’t hold back and talked about the influence of Taylor Swift and said the referees are allegedly favoriting the team due to her global status.

On January 28, Burr made an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, and he didn’t mince his words. “It’s a show, okay? They’re all shows at this point… There’s always been point-shaving, mob gambling. There’s always been. It’s always been in all sports. It’s always been like that. But I think we’re kind of going into like an unprecedented time of that in all sports. I’m not just singling them (Chiefs) out, he said.

At this point, Eisen interrupted to ask, “You think the Chiefs are not as good as we’re making them out to be?” Burr answered, “I don’t think it’s fixed. I think it’s massaged. There’s definitely more back rubs on one side than the other.” Eisen then brought up the Josh Allen decision and asked Burr whether something like that is an example of someone getting that “massage.”

“Where’s the money? They got all the stars. They got Taylor Swift. It’s a business. Why are they an entertainment league? Why aren’t they a sports league?” said Bill. According to Bill, the NFL is in the business of sports entertainment, and with the popularity that comes with the Chiefs, there might be more than meets the eye. Bill Burr, is of course not the first person to question whether Taylor Swift is influencing how some games involving the Chiefs are refereed.

The Bills faced another questionable call against the Chiefs. With 3:13 remaining in the first half, Patrick Mahomes came under pressure on third-and-5 and tossed up the ball in the direction of Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown. However, Bills’ safety Cole Bishop jumped alongside Worthy and the ball appeared to have hit the ground before the Chiefs WR hauled it.

The Bills challenged the play, but the referees stood with the ruling on the field after review. Despite the ball hitting the ground, the officials determined it didn’t move enough to warrant overturning the call. The Chiefs would score on the drive to go 21-10 up. Highlighting both these calls, Bills’ Hall of Famer Andre Reed addressed whether these affected the outcome of the game.

“Because of what’s been going on with the officiating, with the Chiefs, yes… most people would say that those are two plays that could have made a difference in the game. The bottom line is you just got to go out there and not play against the refs, but you kind of are, to a certain point,” Reed said in an interview with Jim Rome. Rome also name-dropped Taylor Swift.

“When you’re going to Kansas City, you got to beat a lot of people, you got to beat the team, you got to beat the fans, you gotta beat the refs, you gotta beat Taylor Swift, you got to beat everybody,” he added.

In 2023, when Swift attended her first NFL game, it led to an unexpected viewership surge for the NFL coming from her fans. As her presence in the stadium grew, so did her screen time with NFL cameras often panning to her cheering on Travis Kelce and the rest of the Chiefs. Numbers or as Burr put it, business also went up.

Last season, NFL viewership surged with regular-season games, averaging 17.9 million viewers, a 7% increase from the previous year, hitting the highest mark since 2015 (18.1 million). NFL also experienced a 20 percent increase in sponsorships and a surge in female viewership across different age demographics. The league’s viewership increased by 53 percent among teenage girls and the 18-24 age demographic, saw an increase of 24 percent. The Taylor Swift effect was in full swing. Her presence has been a boost to the league and for some, it is easy to connect the dots, like NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith.

Speaking on ESPN’s First Take, after the Chiefs’ divisional round win over the Texans he said,

“We’re gonna bring up the fact that Taylor Swift being a Chiefs fan and the lady of Travis Kelce doesn’t hurt. That’s not to say the officials go out there and are intentionally doing this stuff, but it ain’t like the audience, for the opposition especially, doesn’t have a reason to look at some of those things and say, “What the hell is going on here?”‘ 

Rapper Lil Wayne also tweeted his frustration following the Texans defeat posting,

“I hate the cheating azz chiefs.” Well, as the Chiefs gear up for the Super Bowl, these allegations will continue to follow them and it will be interesting to see if the aftermath of the Super Bowl will fuel this fire even more.

For now, Travis Kelce is being handed a different type of headache by the NFL following their AFC Championship game.

Travis Kelce landed in the NFL’s fine book before the Super Bowl

While girlfriend Taylor Swift caught up in the refs controversy, and Travis Kelce landed on the NFL’s fine list. It’s been a wild week for the Chiefs’ power couple. The NFL fined the Chiefs’ TE $11.3K for unsportsmanlike conduct (taunting) during the AFC Championship game against the Bills. 

The drama unfolded after a heated moment between Kelce and Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Things escalated fast when Bills defensive tackle Jordan Phillips straight-up head-butted Kelce in the helmet. Yes, you read that right: head-butt. The officials flagged Phillips for unnecessary roughness—no surprise there. But here’s the part that makes fans call out refs -Kelce didn’t get a single penalty during the game.

This is the second time this season the Chiefs’ TE has been fined. Before this, the league fined him $14K in Week 17 against the Steelers for the same thing. It looks like Travis Kelce loves to talk -or maybe he just loves writing checks to the league. Although these fines are nothing compared to his paychecks. But the refs letting the Chiefs walk away without a penalty convinces people to believe in all the wild theories out there. 

Chiefs players continue to deny these allegations, saying the outside noise didn’t bother them. But people won’t stop. And they probably won’t until the Super Bowl.