Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship became the punchline of a joke from Bill Maher while he was attempting to discuss current geopolitical events.
Bill Maher mocked Taylor Swift with an old joke, taking a jab at the pop star’s dating life.
During his opening monologue of Friday’s episode of Real Time, the comedian kicked off by discussing current events, especially with the rising international tensions growing globally. However, he dragged Taylor’s name into the middle of it all, finding a way to link the political turmoil to her relationship history.
Bill said, This world is so upside down now. It took Trump three weeks to break up with Ukraine, and Mexico and Canada. And yet, Taylor Swift has the same boyfriend for over a year.” The crowd reacted with laughter as Bill added, “It’s alright. She can take it.”
Taylor began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce around August 2023 after the football icon passed his phone number to her through a friendship bracelet. Their relationship sparked months after Taylor split from British actor Joe Alwyn who she dated for six years.
Before Travis, she dated Joe for six years ( Image: Getty Images)
Fans online weren’t quite so forgiving about the joke, totally over the ongoing ridicule of the pop star over her private life. On X, formerly known as Twitter, one wrote, “The dating jokes were creepy when she was a teenager but now they’re just lame. If you’re going to joke about the [Americans] turning on its allies & aligning with a dictator, it needs to be creative with a strong punchline.”
“Again…the jokes would be funny if they were based on accurate characterisations,” said another. A third added: “I don’t like Taylor swift but it is such a lame thing this old man making jokes about the romantic life of a woman. Is so 1980. Pathetic.”
Since Taylor’s rise to fame in the music industry, much public speculation has followed her romantic life, including when she was only a teenager. She often became the brunt of jokes disparaging how many men she dated and for how long she held those relationships with the jests going a step further to mock her music which is often inspired by those personal moments.
“If guys don’t want me to write bad songs about them, they shouldn’t do bad things,” she previously said, defending her creative choices. As the years stretched on, Taylor clapped back at some of the jokes, especially as they were included in pop culture like the Netflix show Ginny and Georgia.
On the show, in 2021, Ginny quips, “You go through men faster than Taylor Swift.” This jab wasn’t taken lightly by Taylor or her fans.
The pop star wasn’t afraid to hit back, writing on X, “Hey Ginny & Georgia, 2010 called and it wants its lazy, deeply 𝓈ℯ𝓍ist joke back. How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse shit as FuNnY. Also, @netflix after Miss Americana this outfit doesn’t look cute on you Happy Women’s History Month I guess.”
