Taylor Swift says sweet hello to Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds' kids, confirms Eagles fandom

Oh, hey, James! Hey, Inez!

“Aunt” Taylor Swift gave an adoring shout-out to Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s oldest daughters when she spotted them in the crowd at her Philadelphia show Friday night.

Before performing “Betty," a song about a teenage love triangle from her “Folklore” album, Swift, 33, told the crowd at her Eras tour, “I named the characters after real people in my life who I love more than anything. And their names are James, Inez and Betty.”

She proceeded to look in the girls’ direction and appeared to mouth, “Hi, James, hi, Inez,” as she sang while accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, clad in a sparkling red coat over a short matching romper. Footage of Lively dancing exuberantly in the crowd popped up on social media.

Taylor Swift set list: Here are the 44 songs on her epic Eras tour

At the end of the show, after the stadium cleared out and the house lights went on, Swift was captured on video exiting a ramp backstage, waving to cameras as she clutched James, 8, by the hand, and Lively held a snoozing Inez, 6. (Reynolds and Lively’s younger daughter, Betty, is 3. The couple’s fourth child is thought to have been born in February.)

Reynolds previously confirmed Swift’s affectionate relationship with his kids in an interview with SiriusXM. “For the longest time, they just thought Taylor’s just a, you know, like an aunt, like a friend of Mommy and Daddy that’s very, very close, almost family,” he said. "And then they went to a (Swift) concert one day and were like, 'Ohhhhh, this isn't a hobby.' "

Taylor Swift settles that 'Eagles T-shirt' debate: 'Of course it's the team'

But for Philadelphia Eagles fans, the bigger name-check of the night occurred when Swift confirmed that the “Eagles T-shirt” hanging on her door in the song “Gold Rush,” is in fact a reference to the NFL team, rather than the beloved rock band.

“I love the band the Eagles, but guys, like, come on, like, I’m from Philly,” Swift told the crowd. (She was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, about an hour from Philadelphia - in, famously, “1989.”) “Of course it’s the team.”

See the list so far: Taylor Swift is adding surprise songs to every Eras tour stop

Taylor Swift defends fan during 'Bad Blood,' yells at security: 'She wasn't doing anything!'

At Saturday's Philadelphia show, Swift jumped to the defense of a fan who says she was being physically pushed by a security guard while dancing near a barricade during "Bad Blood."

"She wasn't doing anything!" Swift can be heard saying in video captured at the show. "Hey, stop! Stop," she said in between song lyrics.

Swift hasn't commented on the exchange on social media. USA TODAY has reached out to Swift's representative for comment.

Numerous fans documented the encounter on social media. Kelly Kelly, a third-grade teacher, described the incident to "Good Morning America."

“He kept telling me to stop. He kept telling me to like calm down and not to dance,” Kelly said. “She yelled at him and told him to leave me alone and that I wasn’t doing anything wrong."

Kelly added that "it meant so much" to know that "she has our back.”

Swift plays three shows in Foxborough, Massachusetts, starting Friday.

Contributing: Melissa Ruggieri

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Taylor Swift greets Blake Lively's kids, defends fan at Philly shows