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Topics: Taylor Swift, Super Bowl, Travis Kelce
Callum Jones
Topics: Taylor Swift, Super Bowl, Travis Kelce
A body language expert has weighed in on Taylor Swift's' response to being booed during the Super Bowl on Sunday (February 9).
Many famous faces watched on as the Philadelphia Eagles thrashed the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans, including President Donald Trump in a first for a sitting president.
Swift was also in attendance in support of her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his Chiefs side.
As the cameras panned on to the 'Shake It Off' singer and she appeared on the big screen, a large portion of the 75,000 strong crowd started jeering.
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Since the star was just minding her business, there's been some theories floating online as to why she might have been booed - though Trump was quick to add insult to injury with a post on Truth Social.
Swift appeared to mouth 'What is going on?' to friend and rapper Ice Spice, who sat alongside her during the game.
Nevertheless, other celebrities were quick to jump to her defense, and now, Darren Stanton, a body language expert speaking on behalf of Slingo, has provided his analysis on how Swift took the booing.
He said: "At the point the crowd starts booing, Taylor’s eyes open wide. Initially, we see a combination of shock, disbelief and feeling pretty embarrassed.
"She tries to laugh it off but it’s clearly caught her off guard and hit a nerve. Ice Spice does a shushing motion with her finger, as if to tell the crowd to be quiet, as she’s aware of Taylor’s feelings and is embarrassed for her. Ice Spice then looks at Taylor to see her reaction to being booed."
The body language expert added: "We then see Ice Spice tilt and dip her head down which denotes shame, she’s feeling mortified for Taylor. She’s trying to help her get past the awkward moment as quickly as possible.
"Taylor is showing the most fake smile here. This is a masking gesture. In the short response, she shows a massive masking smile. These are normal, genuine reactions from Taylor, it’s real emotion and she does absolutely feel embarrassed here."
Stanton then offered his opinion on how Swift's actions indicated how she took to the booing, adding: "Taylor is tucking her chin in, which is an indicator she wants to make herself physically smaller, and shows her upset at the boos.
"She knows they’re not there for her, but this wasn’t the response she was expecting. This gesture comes from us feeling internally affected, and is something people do to help them feel less exposed.
"The more confident someone is, that’s when we get gestures like hands on hips and feet wider apart. But when we want to ‘disappear’, we make ourselves smaller."