Well, high school football games are underway and pumpkin flavored everything is in season! Even though the Writers Guild strike is over, the SAG-AFTRA strike is ongoing (with the WGA supporting them, or at least they were) and so publicists and talent agency teams are still trying to figure out ways to keep their clients in the news and visible. For Narnia's faves, that's a double whammy.
Let's see what's happening where and with whom.
• Liam Payne reappeared to the public eye several times to try and make it look like he was working on new music and a mini-tour, only to have the "new music" remain elusive and the mini-tour yanked out from under him, in the form of an alleged "kidney infection" affliction.
Simon Cowell and Sony, we thought Liam was supposed to be ill? So ill that he had to cancel highly anticipated shows scheduled for South America. On September 12, Liam was scheduled to perform in Mexico at the time of this alleged illness. WHAT a coincidence. #Not
Instead, by September 11, Management was using his image to make it look like he was strolling around Lake Como with the Beard.
Here below, we were provided a social media account to explain to everyone why Liam's hand was on his back at this precise camera-captured moment, in addition to chastising fans who were critical of his photo-op'ing appearance with the Beard when he was "supposedly" so ill that he had to cancel tour dates. Oh, and how convenient that Splash News just happened to capture the moment.
Syco/Sony has to add legitimacy to the whole "kidney infection" story, right? So, let's have Liam put his hand on his back in one of the photos. Interesting that, in the other photos, his "infection" didn't appear to have needed visual support. Lots of balconies, bushes, railings, stone walkways, all getting in the way of unobstructed images. Hmm. Imagine that.
Just as a quick reminder, here were the dates for Liam's cancelled performances.
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| credit: liam 93 productions |
Huh. Funny how Liam just happened to "pop up" in these photos, allegedly from Lake Como, right around the dates of the concert performances so that some fans can raise a suspicious eyebrow. After all, if Liam can be out and about, strolling with the beard, he must not really have been sick enough to cancel those concerts, right? "What a louse!" [insert sarcasm]
And this kind of garish headline is another shady tip-off:
By the way, curiously enough, the above tweet (which was accompanied by another Pop Crave post which included the link to the Sun story about Liam's alleged physical state of "agony"), did not allow for replies. Yet, this same twitter account did not seem to have a problem allowing replies on its other tweets, but their two tweets about Liam, though? No engagement allowed. Hmmmm....wonder why that would be? Not only that, but the Sun.co.UK twitter account did not even tweet their own story. "Pop Crave" did that dirty work for them.
Does anyone else find that rather peculiar? Fingerprints removed from the crime scene, perhaps?
As several fans shared personal stories about their own kidney infections and based on their descriptions, they described the pain as intense and accompanied by other symptoms such as fatigue, chills, fever, and nausea. So, Narnia found it interesting that Liam was allegedly able to bounce back and immediately hop on a plane for a four-hour flight, without a care in the world. Or, without any kind of self- awareness about all those disappointed South American fans. That doesn't sound like Liam at all, does it?
No, what seems more likely is maybe Cowell and Sony setting Liam up for failure in the eyes of his fans with concert dates that were never going to come to fruition. The "kidney infection"? A convenient malady conjured up because Sony knew that fans would buy into it, due to his early 1D alleged history with a kidney malady and a garlic necklace, to dare fans to question the validity of the story. Worked out just perfectly, didn't it?
And the crowning touch for implausibility was the Beard using her social media to inform Liam's fans of his hospital release and hey, even though he was allegedly home now, she was going out for the evening! Not even a word about having someone sit at home with the newly released patient. Liam was going to have to fend for himself!
Despite all these and other past attempts to rile up and alienate his fan base throughout the years, Narnia continues to fully support Liam Payne, who no doubt refused to comply with another Simon Cowell and Sony demand. 1) Given planted articles, 2) Zayn's career resurgence and 3) recent Cheryl quotes about Liam, that new contractual demand most likely involved wanting Liam to agree to have another stunt baby with Cheryl Cole. That's right. The OTT punishment, sabotage, and abuse, not surprisingly, related to Liam's closet.
He will rise above all of this - we're just waiting it out.
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| His day of breaking free is coming. |
• Narnia isn't sure which part of Travis Kelce's team is responsible for setting up/agreeing to this latest contract with a regrettably familiar face:
But the sheer lunacy of their (first?) alleged "hook-up" was off the charts. These teams continue to stun Narnia with their so-called "imaginative" ways.
Narnia would love to know how Travis even had the time to "quietly hang out™" on the east coast when Shifty was supposed to have been there. People in the know, are aware that the Chiefs have few days off, right? Between practices, game days, and travel days, there are one or two days to recover from a game, get injury treatments, and not a whole lot else.
At the time gossip of this new fauxmance emerged mainstream, the Chiefs had several road games going on: one in New Orleans LA (Sun, Aug 13) and one in Glendale AZ (Sat, Aug 19), in addition to one home game vs. Cleveland on Sat, Aug 26. Then, Travis injured his knee at the end of practice on Tuesday, Sept 5, just before the home opener against Detroit on Thursday, Sept 7.
When is he supposed to have had time to be "quietly hanging out™" in the Big Apple? Management couldn't even muster up any photoshopped pics. They just wrote up some fan fiction and dialed up a few rags to publish it. Then they got the Kansas City Star (who are so totally all-in on this story) to play along, as well as a local sports talk radio station 610 AM to chatter about it. That radio station, by the way, is part of the Chiefs' broadcast network.
In addition, management teams can plant some interns on Twitter and that's about all it's going to take to blow this smoke over a crowd of gullible NFL followers. Not to mention Shifty's brainwashed army of bullying fans.
[UPDATED NOTE: According to Page Six, August 31 is around the date that Travis has confirmed he was in New York City as he was taping the New Heights podcast. Huh. Well, we reckon that's possible, especially if the team got a couple days off for Labor Day holiday after their pre-season.
Although neither star has directly addressed the romance rumors, Kelce
confirmed that he was recently in New York during the Aug. 31 episode of his "New Heights" podcast. - Page Six, Sep 12, 2023
There's just one logistic problem with this date provision. Narnia took a look at the episodes of the New Heights podcast surrounding this date of "Aug. 31 episode". August 31 was actually the airing date of Episode 51. So, could it have been possibly the episode before or after Episode 51, Episodes 50 or 52 for which Travis had to go to NYC?
So, in this article from Business Wire, we see this bit of information:
“New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce” is filmed remotely with Jason in Philadelphia and Travis in Kansas City. - Business Wire, Sept. 21, 2022
This makes sense. It's easy to tell that New Heights is filmed remotely. I've seen alot of the episodes and while with Jason, we've seen his dog napping on a couch behind him, or heard his wife and daughters arriving home from an outing, we also see Travis every single time, cramped into a corner with a few knick-knacks and memorabilia. Same background setting for each brother.
And while some episodes have been filmed on location elsewhere when both brothers have been available, for the most part, the episodes have been filmed in their homes during the season.
And for episodes 50, 51 and 52? Travis is in his home Zoom location, not a "new" studio, which he would've had to use had he been in NYC.
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| Episode 50 |
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| Episode 51 |
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| Episode 52 |
[Nice John Mayer tee, by the way, Travis! 😉]
Additional information on the filming of New Heights, from Forbes:
The brothers record remotely on Tuesday, which is usually a day off for NFL players across the league, and a team of WSE employees edits, post-produces and releases the show on Wednesday — about six-to-10 hours after the Kelces originally recorded it.
Though it’s typically remote and once a week, they recorded a bi-weekly, in-person show when Jason’s teammate, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, was a guest on Nov. 10. Since it was Travis’ bye week, they broadcasted from the Eagles’ facility.
When Travis’ quarterback, superstar Patrick Mahomes, was the guest for the Dec. 1 show, Travis and Mahomes recorded from the Kansas City Chiefs’ training facility, and Jason was remote from his studio.
WSE set up remote studios for both brothers since Travis lives in Kansas City and Jason is in Philadelphia. Travis has more room in his house than Jason, who has a wife and two young children, so it was a bit easier to find studio space for Travis.
source: Forbes, December 2, 2022So, we at Narnia have to question this alleged statement from Travis via Page Six about his and Shifty's "quietly hanging out™" around Aug 31. (special thanks to Methodical Muser for this assistance) ] Now, on to the next of what would involve into a slew of shenanigans.
Once the "rumors" were off and running, Shifty helped add to speculation by appearing "drunk" at the VMA Awards on Sept 12. Lest we forget, Travis Kelce is widely known to be a partier and loves to participate in the libations. Whereas many might wonder what on earth Shifty would have in common with Travis Kelce and his high-volume lifestyle, she helped to show his possible "influence", right for the cameras to see.
🚨🚨 warning - Elaine Benes dancing ahead:
I mean, what on earth?? 😏
Narnia has seen some eyepopping beard behavior, but Shifty's Elaine Benes dancing probably tops the list at this point, smh.
We apologize, folks, for your exposure to those awkward demonstrations, but it had to be asked at this point in time, what was Travis's team thinking? We have no doubt Shifty agreed to whatever this mess is going to be - for this would only go on to become one of the glossiest show-fauxmances we've seen in these parts, and in fact, we would also realize there is a third, crucial party invested in it.
The question is how lengthy and involved this high-profile display will become and will it at some point become disruptive of Travis' football performance on the field.
We know that Travis' CAA media team dipped their toes in the bearding waters with Megan Thee Stallion at the CMT Awards this past April. Certainly, Stallion is someone more compatible with his long-established public image. For some reason though, the pairing was dropped quickly.
Or was it that this was an early musician setup, to prepare for Shifty after her performance at Arrowhead Stadium on July 8. She, after all, began her career in Country Music.
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| He has a private jet? Or rather, access to Patrick's Airshare?? 😉 |
Let's get back to, what were they thinking?
All Travis and his team had to do was simply look at how almost all of Swifty's merkins have been treated over the years, which is with no respect whatsoever.
When Jake's new book, The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles, was recently released and promoted by Barnes and Noble in an Instagram post, a fan stated that they had to turn off the replies. Indeed, this is true - there are no comments enabled for their post. Why? Because Shifty's mob-like following enjoy jumping in with their editorials. Pathetic.
Jake and his team, including publicist Mara Buxbaum, thought they were being clever back in 2010, by entering into a mutually "benefiting" contract with Shifty "Taylor" Swift. After all, what better way to be hetero-immortalized than to have the album Red be performed and hinted at as being all about you? Sounds like a publicist's dream, right? Well, the publicist team has been the only benefactor.
Because here we are in 2023, and all that contractual arrangement has done is damage Jake's image. Thirteen years later, and his Twitter search is still filled with verbal abuse, ridicule, "F' you's" and red scarf memes.
She will somehow, by hook or by crook, find a way to get herself a statue, just watch.
And Jake's people still have his Instagram comments limited.
Is it really a preferred mindset that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all?
If this fauxmance becomes a May-to-December show, will Travis really need that level of "camera stalking" (as we have already witnessed), tabloid headlines, and high-profile attention as the NFL season is ongoing? I don't think Chiefs fans realize that if this "whatever-it-is" ends during the season, it will get quite ugly for Travis? They don't know that she will not suffer a black eye at all, that he will be the one with the planted stories of what a rotten person he is? And her fans will attack him just like all the others?
Because this circus is already shaping up that Travis will become the ghost subject of her next album. They're setting it up already.
"Shifty has been warned!"
Travis and brother Jason's very successful podcast, New Heights, will prove to be a convenient and successful platform for whatever narratives need to be sold.
Why? Because even in its inaugural year, New Heights was already hugely successful.
From the beginning, Jason and Travis have conducted an entertaining, educational and hilarious podcast, highlighted with stories from their childhood, of game experiences, and guest appearances, particularly by family members. In other words, it stood on its own merit.
Already however, episodes airing during the winter hiatus and second season of their show have begun to show signs of the podcast being used to "adjust" Travis' public image and plant the seeds/enable along, the Shifty fauxmance.
Without any doubt, this is a case of the whole contrived Travis/Shifty pairing bringing added publicity to the NFL. Even though the NFL has not been too LGBTQ+ inclusive and encouraging (just see what happened to Michael Sam and Carl Nassib for example), but boy, like many other businesses, they sure welcome the community's disposable income. Shifty's fans bring huge numbers, which translates to viewers. Maybe this pairing would/will breed a new generation of NFL fans.
So, we'll see where this is headed. Narnia is far from being done adding to this ongoing story; this was just an introduction. 😉 We have much more to add.
• One more comment regarding Travis, this one is about the Sunday, Sep 24 game in which he had two behavioral penalties for 15 yards each. The "old", temperamental Travis Kelce re-emerged. It's not difficult to imagine the possibilities why. Were the Chicago Bears defenders getting too rough? Were there any other underlying aggravations?
One thing is for sure. He doesn't need Narnia to advise him to be prepared, in games going forward, - for opposing players who may use the Shifty nonsense to taunt him relentlessly. This is in addition to the heightened media attention, the jokes, and apparently, scripted comments by NFL announcers like Ian Eagle.
Tell Narnia that the line (with a reference to a Shifty song) which announcer Ian Eagle inserted after Travis scored his one touchdown, wasn't already provided to him in case he scored. Accounts like Sports Illustrated, Pop Crave, CBS Sports, and New York Post Sports all tweeted it out for more viral activity.
I never thought I would see an accomplished, professional announcer like Ian Eagle reduced to enabling a PR-contrived fauxmance. Not only that but also helping to promote Shifty's music. In this instance, she's the one who received the free publicity. She's the one who benefited, not Travis. It just made him fodder for a meme.
Will there be benefits for Travis besides increased jersey sales and magazine covers? Let's hope so.
He deserves better treatment.
• UPDATE:
Isn't it interesting how this Travis Kelce/Shifty fauxmance has shot from 0 to 65 in just a matter of weeks. We can't even hit publish on this post without a new "update". * eyeroll *
By this brief time, it is very apparent that the contract between Travis and Shifty involves more than just win-win cover for both celebrities and mastermind PR.
But with NFL reporters, major rag sites, and online media obsessed with the saga to the point where Travis' Twitter search isn't even about football anymore, it would appear that there must be another invested party in this "relationship" ➞ the NFL.
Narnia will take a (much, much) more in depth look in our next post.
pic sources: liam 93 productions, investor place, Daily Fail, Payne as F, You Tube
our playlist: Closing Time - Semisonic
Just For You - Lionel Ritchie
Shining Light - Annie Lennox
Real World - Matchbox Twenty
Waiting in Vain - Annie Lennox
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