What Does "Dads, Brads, and Chads" Mean? It All Started With Taylor Swift, Naturally
Published Dec. 18 2023, 10:42 a.m. ET
Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes, and Ashley Avignone cheer after a Kansas City Chiefs touchdown during the second quarter vs the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on December 17, 2023 in Foxborough, Mass.
The Gist:
- Taylor Swift called die-hard football fans who are annoyed to see her on the broadcast so frequently "dads, Brads, and Chads."
- Her comments were turned into a spoof video that has people cracking up.
- The whole "dads, Brads, and Chads" comment is really taking off in other ways as well.
Wait, Taylor Swift has inspired a major trend and is getting people talking? That, well, always happens. When Taylor started dating Travis Kelce, TV cameras couldn't get enough. She attended her first Chiefs game on Sept. 24, 2023, and that was just the beginning of the mayhem.
Many football fans were seeing more shots of Taylor than they wanted to. Such is the case with "dads, Brads, and Chads." What does this even mean? The truly funny story is ahead.
So, how did Taylor Swift start the whole "dads, Brads, and Chads" thing?
When Taylor began dating #87, otherwise known as Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, quarterback Patrick Mahomes officially became the second most famous player on the widely-watched and admired team.
And with the beloved singer attending most of her boyfriend's NFL games, Taylor sightings have become just as exciting to some viewers as the actual field action.
But not everyone feels that way.
Indeed, there has been some backlash from die-hard football fans who prefer that the camera focused less on what Taylor is doing in her box seat beside Patrick's wife Brittany, and more on the actual game.
Not surprisingly, the headliner has some thoughts on that.
"There’s a camera, like, a half-mile away, and you don’t know where it is, and you have no idea when the camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don’t know if I’m being shown 17 times or once," she recently told Time for her "Person of the Year" 2023 interview.
Tay-Tay went on to say, "I’m just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads."
"Dads, Brads, and Chads" has become a parody of football fans, and Swifties as well.
In a new spoof, three football jersey-clad men, a dad and his sons, aptly named Chad Bradson Sr., Chad Bradson Jr., and Brad Bradson, are concerned about the family's matriarch, Madison Bradson, who didn't return after attending an Eras Tour show.
"Sure, a lot of Chads and Brads want to see tackles, touchdowns and really long punts, but we just want our mom back," Chad Jr. says in the parody, which was shown on the NFL on Fox pregame show.
Meanwhile, Taylor's comment about fans who aren't, well, fans of hers, is taking off in other ways as well. Even the queen WAG herself Brittany incorporated the joke into her Instagram Story, sharing a photo of a cookie emblazoned with the words, "dads, Brads, and Chads."
And so it seems we are living in another case where Taylor wins.
Does Taylor's version of the NFL include the Chiefs heading to the Super Bowl? Only time will tell, but we're guessing the dads, Brads, and Chads will be seriously distraught if the superstar is at the game, and happens to interrupt any of the play action — even for a millisecond!
