PROGRAMMING NOTE IS NEAR THE END OF THIS POST:

Everyone thinks or is hoping that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will get married very soon – while also hedging that perhaps they’re already secretly married but will host a huge wedding celebration this week – in New York City, probably but maybe not but possibly but who really knows, at Madison Square Garden.

Permits have been secured. Event companies have been seen unloading equipment etc outside the venue. Every six hours there’s another round of rumours – according to Page Six, Stevie Nicks and Tim McGraw will perform. There’s been all kinds of speculation about the wedding dress designer, and how many dresses she’ll have as part of her entire wedding wardrobe. The latest, as of late Monday, is The Hollywood Reporter’s story: that Taylor will be wearing Dior by Jonathan Anderson. Jonathan just designed the dress worn at the Wedding of Year – and maybe the decade. It was a wedding that set a new standard for weddings, at one of the most exclusive locations on the planet. The dreamiest wedding imaginable at Mont Saint-Michel, where no wedding had taken place in a THOUSAND YEARS. Not exactly the same vibe as MSG. As Maria wrote to me today, is Taylor really getting married at a venue that has hosted Wrestlemanias, LOL FOREVER. Then again, we all have different dreams. And if a bouncy castle inside Madison Square Garden is what Taylor’s been dreaming about, so be it. That, by the way, is TMZ’s latest: allegedly a castle inside a garden is being built as we speak.

Yesterday PEOPLE.com launched their “live update” page for the TNT wedding. Right now there’s literally nothing that hasn’t already been reported everywhere by everyone, including what is or isn’t in the alleged NDA that guests have been asked to sign. But my point is that there’s a live wedding tracker now for this rumoured/reported/possibly maybe probably/but also could be a decoy event. So, basically, it’s being treated like the way a royal wedding is observed in England, with the monarchists camping out for days ahead of the wedding. This is a lot more palatable than the ones who park themselves on the sidewalk, sometimes FOR DAYS, waiting for the baby. I will never forget the hilarious chaos in the lead-up to Prince George’s birth, when there was a heatwave happening in England and all the royalists and reporters were a sweaty mess outside and people were fainting and no one could find anywhere to pee.

As it happens, a heatwave has descended on NYC just in time for the alleged TNT wedding extravaganza. And it’s a given that there will be media camped out outside, even with the city blocking off streets. There’s no doubt fans will do the same. For months they’ve been calling it the closest thing to a royal wedding in America – and it’s kinda living up to that.

After all, if the TNT wedding does go down over the next few days, it’ll be happening on America’s birthday, Independence Day, known to gossips as Taymerica. Interestingly enough, this July 4th will be exactly TEN YEARS since the last Taymerica. We had a good run there for a few years but after 2016, Taylor shut it down, preferring to spend the holiday in private. It’s likely not coincidence that those private Fourths started when she was with Joe Alwyn, her penultimate British boyfriend. He of course was followed by another Brit, Matty Healy. Then, after the last London boy broke her heart, she took the Eras Tour to Arrowhead just after Independence Day in 2023 and Travis Kelce brought her heart home to America. And now here we are…

The return of Taymerica in 2026?

Taymerica, the Comeback? In the loudest most ostentatious big ass way?

Popstars at Taylor’s level always self-mythologise which, in the ongoing debate about whether or not she would actually get married at MSG, is one of the arguments in favour of this being true. And if it does end up being the case, she will have written and then lived up to The Great American Fairy Tale that she’s been singing about in her songs. This is not the love story of the English teacher and the gym teacher. This the love story of America’s version of the princess and prince: a popstar and a football god on the nation’s 250th anniversary. Where else would they get married but at Madison Square Castle (I am screaming) as the commoners gather outside? 

In his most recent Puck newsletter today, Matthew Belloni asked the question:

“[Taylor] Swift wouldn’t stoop to recording the whole thing and selling it to a streamer, would she? Would she??”

No one knows the real answer to that question. But I feel like we can all agree on the fact that someone who chooses to have their wedding at Madison Square Garden is more likely to sell the footage to a streamer than someone who would never have their wedding at Madison Square Garden.

I guess now would be as good a time as any for this programming update: it is Canada Day tomorrow, so we’ll be dark through the rest of the week, a mid-year hiatus. Regular gossip schedule will resume on Monday but of course the chats remain open at The Squawk for all your TNT wedding discourse and this post here will be the dedicated thread to all the TNT wedding hysteria for the next few days. SQUAWK!! (App link here.)

Many of you are already joining in or at least creeping the comments. If you’ve thought about it but don’t know how to start or haven’t been sure how it works, click here for a quick “how to” to get started.  And don’t hesitate to ask if you’re still stumped. Jacek has left instructions on how to get in touch.

Happy Canada Day and Happy Independence Day!

Here’s what else…

I don’t know what to call this outfit on Carrie Underwood but it puts the Canadian tuxedo in the modest and demure category, OMG. (Go Fug Yourself)

Weird Al Yankovic still has integrity and this is not surprising. He’s always been an outlier in the best way possible. (Pajiba)

The James Bond sweepstakes continue, and everyone has an opinion and now we’re learning what the opinion is of the former casting director for the franchise. (Celebitchy)

BIGGGG news in sports today that isn’t World Cup related: LeBron James is leaving the Lakers and it’s looking quite likely that we’re about to get “the single greatest nostalgia tribute to an era that changed the way we’ve come to understand basketball as a sport and a modern intercultural phenomenon”, holy sh-t. (The Ringer)

To go back to the World Cup, this is a bummer but a very necessary reminder of the heartbreakingly dark downside to sport, because it’s important to remember that the tournament isn’t fun for everyone. The stats are not lying – goals and wins and losses are actually life and death for some people. Awareness is critical as the first step to conversation. This is a conversation that is so much more important than the ones about who will advance and what the marquee matchups will be. (New York Times)

Photo credits: Backgrid

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