‘Tells You Everything You Need to Know About America’: Fans Call Out Racial Bias After Noticing NFL Doesn’t Give Simone Biles and Husband Jonathan Owens as Much Camera Time as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
Wed, November 1, 2023 at 1:11 PM CDT·4 min read
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Simone Biles showed up and out to support her husband on the sidelines at his football game in Green Bay, and while it was nice to see them together, some fans brought up the topic of why the couple hasn’t received as much media attention as Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.
Biles met her husband Jonathan Owens on a dating app in 2020. Owens was supportive of Biles’ decision to pull out of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to focus on her mental health. When the pair started dating, Owens was on the Houston Texans practice squad, and he was later signed to the main roster in 2021.
Some fans are saying racial biases are the reason why Simone Biles isn't getting the same amount of coverage as Taylor Swift.
While he was playing with Houston, Biles would support the defensive back, as she showed up in an NFL hype video for the 2022-23 season sporting Texans gear. But that has changed since Owens signed with the Green Bay Packers this year.
He and Biles got married in April, but time spent together has been cut short, as their careers have forced them to be in a long-distance relationship for the time being. On her Instagram story in July, Biles said, “long distance is tough and both being professional athletes is hard…for our schedules…”
In an Oct. 19 interview with “TODAY,” Biles said that her season ended and that she planned to spend her time off in Green Bay to support her husband. The most decorated gymnast of all time kept that promise as she made her first appearance at a regular-season Packers game to support Owens.
Fans say you wouldn’t know that if you saw the game because the televised broadcast did not bring much camera time to the Olympian at all. Some compared her coverage to the amount of screen time Swift has gotten over this football season just in the past few weeks.
The pop singer took over attention to the league after she was first spotted at a Kansas City Chiefs game on Sept. 24. The pair has had constant eyes and media coverage on them, from sports media and celebrity outlets, ever since they walked out of Arrowhead Stadium together hand in hand. The duo even appeared on “Saturday Night Live” after being seen together in New York.
Some social media users believe racial bias has played a factor in the difference, including one person who posted on social media, “I need y’all to go up for her like y’all do Taylor Swift. Let’s celebrate some black love and excellence. Representation matters.”
Another person said, “Tells you everything you need to know about America that Simone Biles is on the sidelines at every Packers game and you don’t hear about it a fraction as much as you hear about Taylor Swift doing cringe handshakes.”
Some fans have claimed that it is the media’s racial bias that has kept Biles and her husband from having the same spotlight as the pair dubbed “Traylor” — a combination of Travis and Taylor — while others blame Owens for having nowhere near as much clout as Kelce.
Owens is a solid defensive player on one of the worst teams in the league, while Kelce is a future Hall of Famer on a perennial Super Bowl-contending team.
One fan added, “Simone Biles would get the Taylor Swift treatment if she was with someone like Jalen Hurts or Dak Prescott instead of marrying a journeyman safety no one really knows.” Another wrote, “They keep talking about why she don’t get the Taylor Swift coverage, that n—a a scrub that’s why.”
Owens and Kelce will be going head-to-head on Dec. 3 as the Chiefs head to Lambeau Field, but that might not be the only marquee matchup. During her interview on the “TODAY” show, Biles let it be known that she will be in attendance, so there is a big possibility that fans will see Biles and Swift in the same stadium.
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