O.J. Simpson buys into theory linking Taylor Swift to Al Michaels losing NFL Playoffs job
Taylor Swift has undoubtedly made an impact on the NFL this year thanks to her romantic relationship with All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce. Many fans have embraced the pop star's presence in the league. Cameras always spot Swift in the suite at any stadium she appears at.
However, not everyone is a fan of the attention she was getting. On the It Is What It Is podcast, former NFL star O.J. Simpson stated that Al Michaels could have lost his announcing job due to the 'Bad Blood' singer. The veteran broadcaster had described Swift's presence at NFL games as a 'sideshow' and had said that it shouldn't be focussed upon.
Simpson thinks that could have led to Michaels getting sidelined from the broadcasting team.
“I think he’s in his early 60s now, so maybe he’s losing a little of his energy. I don’t know but it does seem plausible to me that he’d put his football announcing career in danger because of Taylor Swift. I didn’t hear him say it. But with the publicity it’s gotten, I have to assume he did.”
When NBC announced its broadcasting teams for the playoffs, the 79-year-old was nowhere to be found. The broadcasting team of Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge has replaced him on the network's playoff schedule.
Al Michaels was the lead play-by-play announcer for NBC's SNF from 2006 to 2021. Mike Tirico took over the job from him at the start of last season.
The Broadcasting Hall of Famer has been on the call for a record-tying 11 Super Bowls, five of which were with NBC. Michaels joined Amazon Prime to call TNF games with Kirk Herbstreit last year.
What did Al Michaels say about Taylor Swift?
Michaels was interviewed by Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated ahead of the Chiefs' TNF game against the Denver Broncos in Week Six. He explained how the crew would handle Taylor Swift's coverage with coverage of the game itself:
“What we’re gonna do tonight, everything in moderation. Our crew talked about it this morning. You can’t make a sideshow the show. The vast majority of the audience are tuning in to watch a football game.
"There are people, I don’t know how many, it could be a sizable number, but it’s certainly not a majority, that if you trained the camera on her all night long, they’d be satisfied with that. This is not what we’re doing to do."
Swift has appeared most recently at the Kansas City Chiefs' game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. It remains unknown if Michaels' comments led to him being left off of NBC's playoff broadcasting team this season.
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