Taylor Swift wasn’t in Denver on Sunday for the Broncos-Chiefs game, which the Broncos won. This was Kansas City’s second loss of the season and their first since Taylor and Travis Kelce went public with their romance, I think. Reportedly, Taylor didn’t go to Denver because she’s back in rehearsals ahead of the South American swing of her Eras tour. But rehearsals be damned, apparently Taylor is already back in Kansas City to be by Travis’s side after the loss. Plus, she wanted to spend Halloween with him. I wonder what her costume will be. “Cheerleader” is my guess. Meanwhile, there’s a stupid amount of drama over Travis’s publicist Pia Malihi.

Since late September, all eyes have been on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, and it’s no different for their inner circles too. In the latest drama, fans thought Travis Kelce’s publicist Pia Malihi shaded Swift on Instagram — a move that quickly went viral, thanks to Swifties’ investigative skills.

It all started when Malihi re-posted a friend’s birthday shoutout on Instagram on Oct. 29. In a screenshot of the IG Story, fans noticed that there was a clown emoji strategically placed over Swift’s face. “Happy birthday to our Roman Empire,” her friend wrote as a caption, alongside a confusing collection of pictures: four of the two friends together and one of a clown-ified Swift at Kelce’s game. The Swift photo was actually a repost from Us Weekly, captioned, “This is our Roman Empire.”

Swifties weren’t happy and went directly to Kelce’s comments section to slam Malihi’s post. “Hey bestie… you might want to talk to your publicist about that post,” one wrote to Kelce. Another wrote, “Your publicist needs a publicist.” Plenty of others suggested Kelce fire Malihi over the incident. Meanwhile, Malihi put her profile on private.

But according to the original poster of the IG Story in question, the “bday clown” wasn’t meant to be shady. Malihi’s friend Amanda responded to the drama on Instagram, “It’s me, hi. Was completely innocent to keep attention on Pia’s bday. Wrong choice of bday clown emoji (by me, not Pia!). Nothing but love for Taylor!” Other birthday-related emoji options include: balloons, confetti, a cake, and a gift. And when you search “birthday” on the emoji keyboard, the clown doesn’t come up.

Meanwhile, celeb gossip account Deuxmoi defended the situation on Instagram: “The post was a repost. Pia did not put the clown emoji over TS’s face. It was a birthday post that was reposted by accident by someone who works for Pia. All parties involved realize it was an accident. IDK why the clown emoji was used originally.” She also seemed to defend Malihi on Twitter, writing, “Who gives a sh*t. I’m sure a Taylor has 100 other things to worry about.”

ICYMI, Malihi has previously interacted with Deuxmoi on Instagram. Back in September, Malihi clarified a rumor about Swift bringing notes to a Chiefs game on Deuxmoi’s post: “Not true … I’m TK’s publicist and that’s not hers,” she wrote at the time, per Us Weekly.

That comment is not the only thing fans have dug up about Malihi, though. As one of the founders of Full Scope Public Relations, she has a full bio on the company’s “What We Do” page. Apparently, before launching Full Scope, she worked on Scooter Braun’s PR account at Jonesworks. Braun is enemy no. 1 for Swifties after he bought Swift’s masters in 2019. The Braun connection definitely adds another layer of mess to the clown emoji debacle.

[From Elite Daily]

OMG, the last part! I was entirely on the side of “wow, the snake fam is utterly deranged to make this into a five-alarm controversy,” but the addition of Scooter Braun to the equation is fascinating. Don’t get me wrong, the snake fam is still deranged, but they may be onto something about all of this not being such an innocent mistake. Also: the excuse of “the BIRTHDAY clown” is hilariously bad. Like, think of a better cover story, omfg, you work in PR. Anyway, it sounds like Pia once again contacted Deuxmoi yesterday and she (“a source”) told them that Travis isn’t firing her over this mess. Yeah, we’ll see. No matter what, I feel sorry for Pia. I remember when Desus Nice and The Kid Mero got death threats from Swifties after they said she had “a long back.” They truly had to get the FBI involved. Now imagine you’re a publicist and you reposted a clown emoji over Taylor’s face.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.