All eyes have been on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce since late September, and that includes their friends, exes, and even their teams. On Oct. 29, 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. 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 other 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 Metviner 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” in the emoji keyboard, the clown does not 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.”
JSYK, Deuxmoi seems to have previously interacted with Malihi 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.
Despite what Swifties think, it’s possible this whole situation is a misunderstanding — as of publication, Kelce still follows Malihi on Instagram. So maybe there really are no hard feelings, just a poorly-placed emoji.
The post Travis Kelce’s Publicist Has A Complicated History With Taylor Swift appeared first on Elite Daily.
