Philadelphia Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson is no stranger to controversy.
Voted the most annoying player in the NFL by a group of his peers in The Athletic’s anonymous player survey last year, Gardner-Johnson has a league-wide reputation for being a pot-stirrer and trash-talker.
So when the 27-year-old defensive back took a shot at Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his girlfriend Taylor Swift after the Eagles 40-22 victory over the two-time defending Super Bowl champions last weekend in Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans, it was to the surprise of very few.
Gardner-Johnson posted a photo of him and Kelce from the Super Bowl on his Instagram story with the caption “Should have stayed with that thick [expletive],” seemingly referring to Kelce’s ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole, whom he broke up with about a year before he started dating Swift.
The Florida Gators alum followed that up by throwing shade directly at Swift during the Eagles’ Super Bowl parade a few days later, wearing a hoodie with the caption “Swifties can LIX my [expletive]” — a presumed direct shot at the 14-time Grammy winner, whose fans allegedly flooded Gardner-Johnson’s mother’s restaurant with bad online reviews in retaliation for the Nicole comment.
And while the Kelce-Swift rivalry seemingly started out of nowhere, it also goes against what Gardner-Johnson told his Eagles teammates the night before Super Bowl LIX when he boldly stated the team wouldn’t have to do any trash talking if Philly beat Kansas City, according to the Daily Mail.
“This is emotional to be here, talking all this [expletive],” Gardner-Johnson told his teammates during the Eagles' final team meeting before the Super Bowl. “[Expletive] their legacy, bro. It's simple. Y'all been through a lot of [expletive] bro, a lot of [expletive]. We ain't got to say [expletive] if we win it. Because our story is going to tell itself, bro.”
Recording artist Taylor Swift watches the first half of Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles at Caesars Superdome.
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
While Gardner-Johnson clearly harbors some bad blood toward Swift, one of his teammates actually defended the “Blank Space” singer who was booed at the Super Bowl after being showed on the Jumbotron.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley actually defended Swift, stating her being a Chiefs fan is actually a good thing for the NFL with the increased exposure she’s brought the league from a new demographics of fans.
“I will say this though — they showed her on the jumbotron, she got booed; I don’t get it,” Barkley said on “The Howard Stern Show” last week. “I don’t get why she was getting hate there. She’s just there supporting her significant other, and she’s made the game bigger. Her being a part of this is only helping us. So, I don’t get the dislike that she’s given.”
