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Taylor Swift’s fans don’t play when it comes to defending their queen, and Philadelphia Eagles defensive back CJ Gardner-Johnson learned that the hard way. After the Eagles’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs, Gardner-Johnson took a jab at Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce by mocking his past relationship with Kayla Nicole. The comment didn’t sit well with Swift’s devoted fan base, sparking an unexpected form of retaliation: review bombing his mother’s restaurant, SI reports.
Awful: #Chiefs fans and Swifties are leaving fake bad reviews to CJ Gardner-Johnson’s mother’s restaurant in Florida.
CJ’s mother did NOT do anything, and they are putting her livelihood at risk.
Sports are never this serious. Make sure to show your support to King’s Grill in… pic.twitter.com/VQNpynCxsf
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 11, 2025
The Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Chiefs should have been the story of the night, but Gardner-Johnson’s social media antics shifted the spotlight. Posting a picture of Kelce from the game, the defensive back wrote, “Should have stayed with the thick sh*t,” referring to Kelce’s ex-girlfriend, Kayla Nicole, whom he dated on and off from 2017 to 2022. While trash talk is common in sports, bringing personal relationships into the conversation proved to be a risky move, especially when one of the parties involved happens to be dating the world’s biggest pop star.
Swifties, already irritated by the Eagles’ fans booing Swift during her appearance at the Super Bowl in New Orleans, decided to exact their revenge in an unconventional way. They tracked down Kings Grill, a restaurant owned by Gardner-Johnson’s mother in Rockledge, Florida, and began flooding its Yelp page with negative reviews. What started as a football-related dig quickly escalated into a social media-fueled takedown.
The backlash was swift and intense, leading Yelp to flag the restaurant’s page with a warning about “media-fueled reviews.” Speaking to TMZ, Gardner-Johnson’s mother, Del, acknowledged the barrage of negative comments but made it clear they didn’t faze her.
“I have friends who were sending me the screenshots,” Del said. “They were going, ‘Oh my god, look at this!’ And the first thing everyone said was, ‘the Swifties have attacked.’”
However, in a surprising twist, she revealed that Kings Grill was already closed and in the process of being sold, meaning the influx of bad reviews had no impact. “The joke is really on the Swifties and everyone entertaining the reviews because it didn’t affect us one way or another.”
While Taylor Swift’s fan base has a history of rallying together for their idol, this latest campaign raises questions about the power of online communities and the lengths they will go to defend their favorite stars. Gardner-Johnson might think twice before making another offhand remark, but for now, the only ones left with nothing to do are the Swifties, with both the Eras Tour and the Chiefs’ season wrapped up. Time to find a...
