Following the NFL Super Bowl on Sunday night, the 77-year-old posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, taking credit for the pop star’s enormous success over the years.

In his post, Trump refers to the Music Modernisation Act that was passed under his watch as US president, legislation that helped artists earn royalties and licensing fees easier on music streaming services.

“I signed and was responsible for the Music Modernization Act for Taylor Swift and all other Musical Artists,” Trump wrote.

“Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will.”

Swift hasn’t officially endorsed a presidential candidate yet for this year’s election, however she did publicly announce her support for President Joe Biden in 2020.

“There’s no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt President in the History of our Country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money,” Trump continued in his post.

“Besides that, I like her boyfriend, Travis, even though he may be a Liberal, and probably can’t stand me!”

Previously, Swift was known for keeping her politics to herself and very rarely demonstrated any political leaning in her art and in her presence in the public eye.

However, in the 2018 midterm election, Swift endorsed Democrat Senator Phil Bredesen and urged her fans to vote the same.

Her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana includes footage of moments before she made the endorsement in a post on Instagram. While Swift’s father was concerned about security risks and potentially damaging headlines outing her opposition to Trump, she said it was something she felt she needed to do, regretting not speaking out sooner.

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A post shared by Loni Love (@comiclonilove)

Swift was particularly opposed to Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn – who ran against Democrat Senator Bredesen and ultimately won – based on her extreme right-wing views against women and the LGBTQIA+ community.

“She votes against fair pay for women. She votes against reauthorisation of the violence against women act, which is just basically protecting us from domestic abuse and stalking,” Swift said in the footage on Miss Americana.

“She thinks that if you’re a gay couple or even if you look like a gay couple you should be allowed to be kicked out of a restaurant.

“I can’t see another commercial [with] her disguising these policies behind the words ‘Tennessee Christian values. Those aren’t Tennessee Christian values’. I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That’s not what we stand for.”

Conspiracy theories

Trump’s comments on Taylor Swift comes off the back of far-right pundits accusing the pop star of being a “Pentagon asset” who will “rig” the upcoming presidential election in November in favour of the Democrat party.

Some referred to Swift as an “election interference psyop” who will turn Swifities into Democrat voters. Others have accused Swift of being a puppet for the NFL and Democrats, referencing her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, saying she will also rig the Super Bowl match.

While Swift has not addressed the accusations, President Joe Biden has not shied away from them, and instead, his social media team has taken the mickey out of it.

Just like we drew it up. pic.twitter.com/9NBvc5nVZE

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 12, 2024

In an unanticipated move, Biden also created a TikTok account on Sunday night – presumably to appeal to younger voters – that already has nearly 100,000 followers.

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Rihanna opened with “Bitch better have my money”, appearing on a translucent floating platform surrounded by dancers on other floating platforms. 

She followed up with a medley of fan favourites, including of “Where Have You Been,” “Only Girl (In the World),” “We Found Love,” “Rude Boy,” “Work,” “Wild Thoughts,” “Pour It Up,” “Umbrella,” “Diamonds”.

Rihanna also appeared to use the opportunity to publicly announce her second pregnancy, with her silhouette in a red jumpsuit causing some speculation. A representative soon afterward confirmed with the Hollywood Reporter she is pregnant.  

Rihanna gave birth to her first child with partner A$AP Rocky last year.

In an interview prior to the performance at the Super Bowl, Rihanna said motherhood had made her feel like she could do anything, and was a major reason she agreed to take on the performance.

“I was like, ‘You sure? I’m three months postpartum. Should I be making major decisions like this right now? I might regret this,’” she said.

“When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world — you can do anything,” she added. “And the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was … there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all,” she said. “It’s important for my son to see that.”

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The National Football League (NFL) has announced that Thomas will serve as a down judge at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida.

Thomas previously made NFL history when she became the first permanent female NFL official in 2015, and the first female to officiate an NFL playoff game in 2019.

“Sarah Thomas has made history again as the first female Super Bowl official,” NFL executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent Sr said.

“Her elite performance and commitment to excellence has earned her the right to officiate the Super Bowl.

The #SBLV crew:

• Carl Cheffers (R)
• Fred Bryan (U)
• Sarah Thomas (DJ)
• Rusty Baynes (LJ)
• James Coleman (FJ)
• Eugene Hall (SJ)
• Dino Paganelli (BJ)
• Mike Wimmer (RO)

Sarah makes history as the first woman to officiate in a Super Bowl. https://t.co/EVvz45QgFx pic.twitter.com/tDvWZPx9JG

— NFL Officiating (@NFLOfficiating) January 19, 2021

The Super Bowl, the national championships of the NFL, is the most watched TV program of the year in the United States. Last year, it drew an average of 99.9 million viewers.

As Mike Freeman wrote for USA Today, Thomas’ appointment to the Super Bowl is a massive deal in a sport that has long held a “boy’s club” mentality.

“Game officiating has long been one of the core bastions of control for the NFL. It’s gotten much better in recent years with more people of colour and women, but it’s been remarkably slow going,” Freeman wrote.

“Game officials don’t need to be world class athletes or have super physical strength. They just need to have good vision (barely), tough skin and be quick thinkers. Still, there’s been no women officiating in the Super Bowl until now, and only a handful of others officiating regular season and playoff games until now.

“This is the hardened, pinstripe ceiling Thomas just shattered.”

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It’s the most watched TV program of the year in the US and in 2020, it is estimated roughly half of the millions of people watching the game will be women.

In previous years, the ads have been known to be almost completely male-focused, and at times, blatantly sexist. This year, a number of advertisers are taking a different approach, highlighting women who are defying stereotypes in all walks of life.

San Francisco 49ers assistant coach Katie Sowers, who on Sunday became the first woman and first openly gay person to coach a Super Bowl game, is profiled in Microsoft’s 60-second ad.

The advertisement follows Katie as she coaches her team in the lead up to the game. She says that as a child, she always knew she wanted to be involved with the NFL but had “never seen a female coach before.”

“People tell me that people aren’t ready to have a woman lead, but these guys (the players) have been learning from women their whole lives – their mums, grandmas, teachers,” Sowers says in the ad.

“I’m not trying to be the best female coach, I’m trying to be the best coach,” she continues. “All it takes is one and then it opens the door for so many.”

The ad closes with the words: “Thanks Katie, for being the one.”

“The bar is not just to be politically correct, but to be proactively supportive of women and their role, and in doing so really anybody,” Kathleen Hall, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of brand, advertising and research told CNBC.

Olay’s 30-second ad ‘Make Space for Women’ mocks the notion that there isn’t enough space in space exploration for women. It calls for viewers to tweet using the hashtag #MakeSpaceForWomen and every tweet will be matched by a $1 donation to Girls Who Code.

The ad comes almost a year after NASA was forced to postpone the first all-female spacewalk because there weren’t enough appropriately sized space suits for the female astronauts taking part.

The advertisement features actress Busy Phillips and YouTube start Lilly Singh, along with astronaut Nicole Stott.

The NFL itself aired a two-minute pre-game ad that includes 32 children, about one-third female, representing teams in the NFL. The ad features Toni Harris, the first woman to have received a full college scholarship as a position player. Carli Lloyd, a star US football player, also stars in the ad as a field goal kicker.

SodaStream’s spot guest stars Alyssa Carson, an 18-year-old astrobiology student training to be part of the first crewed mission to Mars.

The average cost of advertising during the Super Bowl is $5 million for a single 30-second spot.

And while advertisers have been slow to realise that it is women, not men, who exercise the most purchasing power in the US, it seems they are finally catching on.

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