Swifties Celebrate After NFL Player Who Mocked Taylor Swift Is Cut from Team

C.J. Gardner-Johnson has been cut by the Houston Texans — and Swifties are ready for it!

The polarizing safety was released by the team on Tuesday, Sept. 23, three games into the NFL season. He moved to the Texans this offseason after winning Super Bowl 2025 and getting traded by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Gardner-Johnson, 27, who once played alongside Jason Kelce, whose brother Travis Kelce is engaged to the superstar — wore a sweatshirt to the team’s victory parade in February that read: “Swifties can LIX my balls.”

The controversial attire followed a post a few days earlier in which Gardner-Johnson shared an Instagram Story mocking Travis, insinuating he should have stayed with his ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole rather than date Swift.

Shortly after the Texans announced that they had parted ways with the Florida standout, Swifties clamored to defend her honor.

“Karma is a beautiful thing,” one X user wrote, alongside a popular quote from Swift about “enemies” in which she said “trash takes itself out every single time.”

Another anti-Gardner-Johnson social media user posted a photo of the NFL player wearing the offensive sweatshirt earlier this year, and added a caption: “Life comes at you fast.”

For the former Eagles star, life in Houston was short-lived.

The Texans traded first-round pick Kenyon Green to the Eagles last March in exchange for Gardner-Johnson, who had six interceptions last season in the team’s Super Bowl run. 

But the player has struggled in key moments over the past three games, leading to touchdowns by opponents, according to ESPN.

“When you see a big play that happens on our defense, somewhere along the lines, there’s a bust in communication,” Texans coach Demeco Ryans said about his defensive unit on Tuesday, Sept. 23. “It all starts with communication, and it hasn’t been as crisp as it needs to be. We see that. We have to make some adjustments there to make sure we get it corrected.”