Paul Rouse: Swift and Kelce victims of society's shift away from reality

Sport has never just been sport and music has never just been music. But both are now set within the context of society where the boundaries of acceptable behaviour are shifting rapidly. 

LOVED UP: Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s high-profile romance has outraged the Maga movement. Picture: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Everywhere Elvis went he was screamed at. The bigger his fame grew, the more it closed in on him. He retreated in pursuit of privacy and respite to Graceland, which he bought and filled with things that he liked. There was, ultimately, to be no peace. He was 42 when he died, filled with multiple drugs, and was buried in the grounds of his estate.

It was not just those who loved Elvis who damaged him, it was also those who hated him. In his early years of success, Elvis drew brutal criticism from people who were outraged by this new rock’n’roll. The genius of Elvis had seen him fuse all manner of music, something which was not acceptable to America’s racists in the 1950s. Others were enraged by his style of performance which they considered to be sexually provocative. All told, he was considered a threat to America’s moral probity.