Taylor Swift fans are on a “Bad Blood” mission to wreak havoc on Philadelphia Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and his family’s lives.
The 25-year-old and his team pummeled the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9, leaving their mark with a final score of 40-22 and shattering Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce’s run at a three-peat.
Gardner-Johnson, 25, ribbed three-time champion Kelce after the big game in an Instagram Story post that showed them in a heated gridiron staredown. He captioned it “Should’ve Stayed w that thick s****.”
The taunt was widely perceived as a dig at the tight end’s love life. For the past year and a half, Kelce has been dating Swift. Prior to their relationship, he dated influencer and sports reporter Kayla Nicole for five years.
Swifties, the Grammy Award winner’s cult-like supporters, took offense to the swipe and launched a full-fledged digital attack.
In the comment section of a post, remarks such as “what’s your beef with another dudes gf lmfao” outnumber praise for the Eagles victory. Someone even wrote, “Drooling over Travis’s sloppy seconds is crazy work.”
A third heckler rallied support for more cyber warfare when they typed, “Swifties we gotta report his account.”
🚨🚨🚨WILD🚨🚨🚨#Eagles DB CJ Gardner-Johnson goes after Travis Kelce on his Instagram story this morning.
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) February 10, 2025
“Should’ve stayed with that thick sh*t.”
He is talking about Kelce breaking up with Kayla Nicole for Taylor Swift. pic.twitter.com/qSaGEzlDKj
Some boasted that they proudly “crossed lines” as they wrote the NFL star needed to “pay the alimony you owe to your zillions of babymamas.” The racist jeer was met with an admission from another person claiming they “made an ICE report on his mom’s business and don’t regret it.”
The backlash for C.J.’s since-deleted jab at Kelce and Swift led to his parents Delatron and Brian Johnson’s Kings Grill restaurant being inundated with poor reviews from Swifties who targeted them in retaliation.
it's actually insane pic.twitter.com/DkqdPc4Z6V
— Liz Finnegan (@TheGingerarchy) February 11, 2025
The one-star reviews claim the Rockledge, Florida, establishment’s food is “below average,” their customer service is “the worst,” and that the business should be closed “for putting people’s lives at risk” with bogus allegations that raw chicken was served to patrons.
The false and damaging reports motivated Yelp’s Support Team to monitor user feedback. As a result, posts on the restaurant’s page have been temporarily disabled.
In a message to users, the company wrote, “We don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to this incident.” They noted that they are investigating “whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events.”
The swarming fan base was slammed for their actions as one person tweeted, “His mom did nothing and they are putting her livelihood at risk. Awful.”
Another user called for Swift to step up and speak out against the actions of her followers. “This is a perfect opportunity to show what kind of person you truly are, or aren’t. People are doing this in your name. Gain respect or continue to lose it,” read the tweet.
Despite the influx of hate, Delatron has continued to celebrate her son’s career milestone, even posting a post-Super Bowl photo of him on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
