OPINION: Culture of celebrity swifter than ever

Feb. 6—It's not Taylor Swift's fault. She doesn't control stargazing television crews that lavish attention on her as she roots for the Kansas City Chiefs and her close friend, tight end Travis Kelce.

Swift gets as much screen time as Chiefs' coach Andy Reid, who will try Sunday to win his third Super Bowl in the last five seasons.

Reid can't sing. He isn't as young, as svelte or as telegenic as Swift.

The best any of us can say for Reid is he's some sort of coaching genius, and he's gotten even smarter since Patrick Mahomes became his starting quarterback in 2018.

Reid is important to the game. Swift is not. But logic and influence don't count for much in America's culture of celebrity.

Television crews can't wait to feature Swift on camera. They always cut to her after Kelce makes one of his remarkable catches. A routine down-and-in reception for Kelce also is pretext enough to give viewers more of Swift.

Like paparazzi, NFL broadcasters turn attention to a celebrity in her stadium suite simply because she's there. Close games, of course, are best for the TV crews, as Swift's radiant smile might be replaced by expressions of anxiety. All the better to pluck the heartstrings of her fans.

The regular attention NFL broadcast crews give to Swift is an unnecessary annoyance for the core audience. These broadcast teams aren't doing anything new, but they are more excessive than their predecessors.

In the mid-1970s, television networks covering Pittsburgh Steelers games occasionally showed quarterback Terry Bradshaw's then-wife, former Olympic skater JoJo Starbuck.

The attention Starbuck received was nothing compared with later coverage of actor Jack Nicholson, who occupied a courtside seat at home games of the Los Angeles Lakers. Nicholson exhorting Shaq and Kobe was deemed by broadcasters as worthy of attention. Nicholson screaming complaints at a referee was even more titillating to television crews.

An ABC reporter interviewed weeping Nicholson after the favored Lakers lost to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals. It was Cuckoo's Nest in prime time.

Like Nicholson, moviemaker Spike Lee has spent millions of dollars for court-side seats at NBA games. Lee's team is the New York Knicks, and he's made headlines by baiting and being heckled by players on opposing teams.

Lee's most notable adversary was Reggie Miller, the great shooter of the Indiana Pacers. They clashed during a playoff series 30 years ago. Miller was spectacular. Lee, though, got the last taunt, as the Knicks won the series, 4 games to 3.

Soon after Lee forced himself into pro basketball's headlines, the culture of celebrity became daily fare on television.

Actor and former football star O.J. Simpson stood trial in the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. A certainty of the judicial system is any trial will last at least twice as long as necessary if it's televised.

Simpson, the most famous person ever tried for murder, was a natural for gavel-to-gavel television coverage.

The evidence in Simpson's case would have resulted in perhaps a three-day trial for almost any other defendant in Los Angeles. Simpson's trial lasted 266 days, not counting jury selection.

Prosecutors and Simpson's squad of defense attorneys loved being on camera. They dragged out the case to draw more attention to themselves. Judge Lance Ito could have reined in the verbose, grandstanding lawyers, but he was every bit as hungry for media attention made possible by a celebrity defendant.

Simpson didn't testify. His lawyers knew they had the trial won after they humiliated a key witness, police detective Mark Fuhrman. He took the Fifth Amendment while testifying rather than risk a perjury charge.

Celebrity status carried Simpson to an acquittal. Under the television lights, prosecutors lost their way in a double-murder trial they should have won.

Swift, a justly famous entertainer, doesn't need to seek attention. She commands it.

Conservative media outlets seem threatened by her potential as a political organizer. Swift might be dangerous to Donald Trump's comeback bid.

After the way the football networks have treated her, Swift seems capable of tipping a couple of swing states to President Joe Biden while winning a governorship for herself.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.