After drawing ire from disgruntled football fans in 2023 who felt she was present at too many games, Taylor Swift has managed to irk men in another sport for apparently attending too few. New York Knicks point guards Tyler Kolek and Miles “Deuce” McBride recently criticized the pop star as the “fakest” fan of the 2026 NBA champions, accusing her and other celebrity row visitors of being “performative.”
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In a clip from an NBA 2K TikTok livestream Deflected posted Thursday (Nov. 5), the two men fiddled with game controllers while debating who they believe is the least authentic celebrity Knicks fan. “Maybe Taylor Swift,” Kolek said, to which McBride offered, “I would agree.”
What defines a “fake” Knicks fan, in their eyes? “They just want to be seen at the game, they’re not necessarily fans,” Kolek noted. “I don’t know if I’ve seen her at any other games. I’m gonna get some hate from the Swifties. I guess she’s got a lot going on, so she can’t come all the time. But it’s a little performative.”
“Swifties not gonna like that answer,” McBride said with a laugh as the two players shouted out Ben Stiller and Tracy Morgan for showing up consistently at Knicks games. “Everybody else [but Swift] is usually solid.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Knicks told Billboard, “Taylor Swift has been a Knicks fan for many years, has a long history with Madison Square Garden, and we are incredibly appreciative of her support of the organization.”
Billboard has reached out to Swift’s rep for comment.
The 14-time Grammy winner was present at Game 4 of the NBA Finals, cheering on the Knicks alongside Mariska Hargitay and Este and Alana Haim in custom Knicks T-shirts. Before that, she also traveled with now-husband Travis Kelce to watch an away game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It’s ironic that Swift — who, as Kolek generously pointed out, might’ve been a little busy this season, having been gearing up to release Billboard Hot 100-topping song “I Knew It, I Knew You” for Toy Story 5 the same month of the NBA Finals, among other projects — is now getting flack for this reason. It wasn’t long ago that football fans expressed upset over the amount that she was seen at NFL games when she first started showing up to support Kelce.
“I think we all know that if there’s one thing that male sports fans want to see in their spaces and on their screens,” Swift later sarcastically joked about the outrage in her 2025 cameo on New Heights, “it’s more of me.”
