Taylor Swift’s attendance at the Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday night was turned into a huge spectacle by NBC, and if you were paying attention every time the camera cut to her for a reaction shot, you likely noticed all of the other A-listers who joined her at MetLife Stadium. While the broadcast largely ignored the fact that Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman were present, as well as Reynolds’ wife Blake Lively and other members of Swift’s squad, the Deadpool star’s appearance didn’t get past Rob McElhenney, who naturally cracked an A+ joke about his buddy looking less than thrilled.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney went into business together in 2020, purchasing the Welsh football team Wrexham AFC and documenting their journey to revive the club on the docuseries Welcome to Wrexham. The FX show is a mix of business and pleasure, as the two actors experience the intense highs and lows of running a soccer (ahem, football) club, while still bringing their signature humor to nearly every situation. So leave it to the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star to swoop in with the perfect caption for Reynolds’ facial expression at the Chiefs game, as he tweeted:
TMW you realize she meant “American” football pic.twitter.com/hYddG5xO3ROctober 2, 2023
We’re definitely more accustomed to seeing the Free Guy actor taking in a soccer match these days than attending an NFL game, so the thought that he would have gotten his “footballs” confused is pretty funny. To be fair, though, Ryan Reynolds often seems to keep his emotions in check while watching Wrexham too — more so than Rob McElhenney anyway — possibly to avoid this exact scenario.
Consider that Ryan Reynolds’ own wife pulled a similar move to Rob McElhenney’s, posting a screenshot of the co-owner looking quite stressed at a Wrexham game back in January and joking that she’d purchased an ESPN+ subscription just to witness his “crippling anxiety.”
It’s hard to say what caused the actor to appear unenthusiastic at the NFL game, as Taylor Swift and Blake Lively had more animated reactions to whatever was happening on the field. Unlike Swift’s first Kansas City Chiefs game — where she dropped F-bombs aside Travis Kelce’s mom and chest-bumped her friends — this one was not a blowout. In fact, what many thought would be an easy win for the Chiefs turned into a pretty competitive affair, with the New York Jets staying within one score for the whole second half. Maybe the actor was just really into the game?
NBC’s broadcasters may not have paid much attention to Ryan Reynolds or the rest of the entourage surrounding Taylor Swift amid her rumored relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, but the actor should know that Rob McElhenney isn’t ever going to pass up an opportunity to take a shot at his business partner.
You can see the two in action with new episodes of Welcome to Wrexham airing at 10 p.m. ET Tuesdays on FX. The series is also available to stream with a Hulu subscription.