Taylor Swift’s association with Jackson Mahomes is disappointing fans

Taylor Swift is in her WAG era. That’s “wives and girlfriends,” a term used in reference to the partners of athletes, and not one to which a Grammy-winning artist would typically be reduced. Yet Swift seems to be embracing the part, supporting her boyfriend Travis Kelce by rolling up to Kansas City Chiefs games flanked by fellow WAGs and coming up with cutesy secret handshakes to celebrate touchdowns. It’s all fun and games, depending on who else is in the suite. When that person is Jackson Mahomes, things get more complicated.

Following Swift’s attendance at a Chiefs v. Green Bay Packers game in Wisconsin, a viral thread on Twitter/X highlighted Swift’s particular friendship with Brittany Mahomes, wife of Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and her subsequent association with Patrick’s brother Jackson. (Video of Swift at one game shows her doing the “secret handshake” with both Brittany and Jackson.) In February 2023, Jackson was arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of battery after forcibly grabbing and kissing restaurant owner Aspen Vaughn. He is expected back in court for a preliminary hearing in January 2024, per CBS News.

“Jackson has done nothing wrong,” Jackson’s attorney Brandan Davies said in a statement (via CBS). “Our investigation has revealed substantial evidence refuting the claims of Jackson’s accuser including the statements of several witnesses. We have reached out to law enforcement to provide the fruit of our investigation so that they may have a complete picture of the matter.”

However, Vaughn provided video of the incident to the Kansas City Star, saying Jackson had been a frequent visitor to her restaurant but “one out of four times he comes in, it’s not a good experience.” The night in question, he had shoved one of the waiters, and Vaughn had to ask his party not to smoke marijuana in the VIP room. When she later tried to speak to Jackson in private about his treatment of the waiter, “He forcibly kissed me out of nowhere,” she told the outlet, “and I’m telling him, pushing him off saying ‘what are you doing?’ and then he proceeded to do it two more times where the last time I was pushing him off and I can see on the cameras that somebody was outside the office door and I was yelling for them to come help because he’s big and massive.”

Jackson’s family, including sister-in-law Brittany, have defended him in the wake of his legal trouble. Asked on Instagram how she feels about comments regarding Jackson, Brittany replied, “They are ignorant. He is a human just trying to live his life and find his way and until you walk a day in his shoes (which no one ever will) you have no right to say shit about him” (via People).

While Taylor Swift is certainly not responsible for the behavior of everyone who happens to float into her orbit, some fans found her friendly interactions with Jackson disappointing in light of this information. As some have pointed out, Swift was named a Time magazine Person of the Year in 2017 as one of the “Silence Breakers,” for speaking up about her own assault. Swift was awarded a symbolic $1 after claiming a radio DJ had groped her during a photo opp in 2013. “I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life, in society and in my ability to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this,” she said in a statement following the high-profile trial (via Reuters). “My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard.”

“[Now] look, taylor’s a grown woman and can hang out with whoever she wants. but i think it’s okay to constructively criticize her choice to hang out with an SA apologist, especially given her past activism for survivors. it just feels very contradictory and saddening to see this,” one disappointed fan posted on Twitter/X in response to the situation with Jackson. “I love Taylor and will always back her up but not when she’s wrong. She needs to stay the hell away from the Mahomes family especially Jackson. You can’t be outspoken about sexual assault and then hang out with someone who committed sexual assault and their supporters,” posted another.

While the Mahomes business is somewhat removed from Swift’s relationship with Kelce, the singer has previously made adjustments to her personal life in the wake of fan backlash. That is, she seemed to drop ex-boyfriend Matty Healy after he made racist comments on a podcast, some of them concerning rapper Ice Spice. Following fan outcry (who knows if it was actually because of fan out cry), Swift and Healy split up and Swift ended up collaborating with Ice Spice on her Grammy-nominated single “Karma.” Whether Swift changes her behavior based on the backlash this time around remains to be seen.