(NEXSTAR) – It’s been a week since Taylor Swift seemingly took the sports world by storm when she attended the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears, sitting alongside Travis Kelce’s mother, invigorating rumors that the pop star and NFL tight end are dating.
While Swift appears to be the Chiefs new biggest fan – unless you count the Swifties that will now be tuning in Sunday night when the Chiefs take on the New York Jets in a game she is again expected to attend – she is hardly the first celebrity spotted rooting for an NFL team.
Before Swift, Paul Rudd was arguably considered the biggest celebrity rooting for the Chiefs. He even offered a “kegger [party] at mom’s” after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl earlier this year.
It isn’t just the Chiefs. Every NFL team has a star supporter.
One of Rudd’s “Wet Hot American Summer” co-stars, Bradley Cooper, was at the Super Bowl in February, cheering for another team: the Philadelphia Eagles. Cooper, a Philadelphia native who also played an Eagles fan in the film “Silver Linings Playbook,” has been a real-life fan for years.
The Buffalo Bills also have a big screen superfan in Chad Michael Murray. The actor and Buffalo native previously said he and his family always cheered for the Bills, adding that “we live and die by the Bills.” George Clooney revealed he is a Cincinnati Bengals fan in 2013, a few years after actor Rob Lowe showed his support for the Indianapolis Colts. The Jacksonville Jaguars have Bill Murray in their corner while Mario Lopez roots for the Los Angeles Chargers (and Justin Herbert).
You’ll also see Josh Duhamel cheering for the Minnesota Vikings, Brad Pitt for the New Orleans Saints, Johnny Depp for the Miami Dolphins, and Adam Sandler for the New York Jets.
We saw another musical superstar rooting for his team on Thursday. Rapper Lil Wayne led his beloved team, the Green Bay Packers, out of the tunnel ahead of last week’s game. He has long-supported the Packers, even writing an anthem for the team in 2011, “Green and Yellow.”
During the same game, rapper Eminem was cheering for his hometown team, the Detroit Lions.
Fellow rapper Snoop Dogg supports another yellow-wearing team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. He previously told Peyton and Eli Manning that he fell in love with the team in the 1970s.
Bay Area rapper E-40, often spotted at games rooting on the San Francisco 49ers, also memorialized his fandom with a song.
Regardless of who plays, we already know Usher will be performing during the Super Bowl Halftime Show this season. There seems to be some uncertainty on which team he supports.
Speaking with the Los Angeles Times from Atlanta in 2008, Usher said he considered himself a fan of the Tennessee Titans because he spent so much of his childhood growing up in the state.
But in 2017, Usher seemed to throw his support behind the Atlanta Falcons, sharing a current photo alongside a childhood photo of himself wearing a Falcons jacket.
There are plenty of musicians you may see rooting for NFL teams. Country singer Blake Shelton, for example, roots for the Arizona Cardinals, saying his love for the team “just happened” nearly three decades ago. Jon Bon Jovi is a New York Giants fan, attending as many games as he could in 1990 while wearing a disguise. Jay-Z grew up in New York, so you’d think he’d support one of the state’s teams, but he’s actually a Dallas Cowboys fan. He says he adopted the fandom from his dad.
There are even fellow athletes you’ll find at NFL games. Like Lil Wayne, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps had the chance to lead his favorite (and hometown) team, the Baltimore Ravens, out of the tunnel in 2016. Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry is such a big fan of the Carolina Panthers that he even tried buying the team with Diddy in 2018. Former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been an outspoken supporter of the Washington Commanders for years, even reportedly leaving his truck “running all day at the airport” because he was “so geeked out about going” to training camp in 2017. Sportscaster Dick Vitale is known for calling basketball games, but you’ll find him cheering for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Another Olympian, Houston native Simone Biles, long-rooted for the Texans – she even had the chance to be an honorary cheerleader for the team – but now dons the green and gold since her husband signed with the Packers earlier this year.
Some celebrities stay true to their hometown teams, like former President Barack Obama rooting for the Chicago Bears; rapper Machine Gun Kelly and the Cleveland Browns; actress Kate Hudson and the Denver Broncos; and actors Chris Pratt and the Seattle Seahawks and Mark Wahlberg and the New England Patriots.
Some even stay true even after the team leaves their hometown. Celebrity chef Guy Fieri still cheers on the Las Vegas Raiders even after the team’s recent move away from Fieri’s neck of the woods in Northern California. Rapper Nelly continues cheering for the Rams, despite their move from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
