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Conspiracy Theories Appear Following Kansas City Parade Shooting

AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File

Conspiracy theories are nothing new, and let's be honest, far too many things that were conspiracy theories just a few years ago turned out to be true. Way too many, really.

But for a while, there's been a conspiracy theory that the relationship between pop singer Taylor Swift and Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce is part of an orchestrated effort to help ensure the reelection of President Joe Biden.

In fairness, the two have factors that would appeal to very different segments of the population--she's one of the most influential voices for women out there and he's a pro football player, the epitome of masculine in many ways. I can almost see where they're coming from, though I can't see the Biden bunch orchestrating much of anything successfully.

Yet in the wake of the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade, the theorists have kicked it into overdrive.

Shameless conspiracy theorists have flooded the internet with unhinged speculation linking the Kansas City parade shooting with Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's support for gun control laws. 

Social media users are suggesting that the shooting was somehow part of a plan to boost support for Joe Biden and the Democrats by the celebrity couple. 

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'Who else finds it odd that a shooting at KC Champions parade happened & suddenly now we have Travis Kelce talking about gun control?' one conspiracy theorist mused. 

'Oh that's right he is dating anti gun activist Taylor Swift I find it funny that when Democrats are in charge we have more shootings in this country.'

'The Vertically Integrated Messaging Apparatus is heating up. That Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce impassioned gun control video is coming, and SOON,' another person fumed. 

 'This mass shooting at Kansas City's Super Bowl parade seems like a perfect pretext for an impassioned gun control plea from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Just saying,' a third person said.

'The people were detained after a mass shooting at the parade celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs Superbowl win,' another said on X.

'Has anyone looked into any connection to the pre-Superbowl radicalization regarding Taylor Swift and how the Deep State supposedly rigging the game?'

In a bizarre conflation of two strange conspiracies, another user pointed out Kelce's vaccine status and his position on gun laws to supposedly tie the two together.   

'After Pfizer paid him 20mil to promote the vaccine, here comes Travis Kelce now voicing is opinion about gun laws. What do you have to say about this douche bag?' they raged. 

Now, I have no doubt that all of these are real. People say stupid stuff all the time.

Is there anything to it?

Honestly, after the revelations over the last few years, I can't completely rule it out. I'd like to, but I can't. 

The best I can say is that this is a lot more convoluted than the White House conspiring to get Twitter to suspend accounts critical of things or scientists lying to cover up for the possibility that a lab leak created the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frankly, if what happened at the parade were part of a concerted effort, I'm pretty sure it would have been a lot bloodier. A lot of people were hurt, but only one fatality, which means it's not going to move the needle as far as some might like.

But it should also be noted that X, formerly Twitter, is a big place. I can find a conspiracy theory being promulgated on just about any topic you care to name if you look hard enough, and some of the accounts quoted aren't exactly massive accounts with legions of followers, either. 

It just hits people as funny that the NFL has been hyping Travis and Taylor for months, then the Chiefs come from behind to win the Superbowl, followed by a shooting at the team's victory parade.

If a screenwriter put that into a script, he'd be told to rewrite it because there's no way that's plausible.

And yet, here we are. It's happened just like that.

I get why people are suspicious and while I doubt anyone on the left could really have pulled something like this off, I also can't completely dismiss it after the last three years or so.

To say that scares me is an understatement.

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