What To Know
- Knicks star Jalen Brunson publicly defended ESPN analyst Monica McNutt after she received backlash from Taylor Swift fans for a hot-mic comment questioning Swift’s Knicks fandom.
- McNutt initially dismissed Swift as a Knicks supporter during Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
- Brunson urged Swifties to “cut [McNutt] some slack,”
Jalen Brunson gave a “You Need to Calm Down” message to Taylor Swift fans attacking Monica McNutt for dissing the singer in a hot-mic moment.
Brunson, a guard for the New York Knicks, defended McNutt, an ESPN and MSG basketball analyst, in a post-game interview on Saturday, June 13, after his team won the 2026 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.
“I just want to say something to the Swifties,” the athlete said, looking into the camera during an MSG Networks interview on Saturday. “[McNutt is] a really good one. Cut her some slack. It’s all good. I promise.”
Jalen Brunson: “I just want to say something to the Swifties. She’s a really good one. Cut her some slack. It’s all good. I promise”
Monica McNutt: “😂 Thank you” pic.twitter.com/0EClYe9H1l
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) June 14, 2026
Brunson’s advocacy for McNutt came three days after her hot-mic moment went viral. “Is that Taylor Swift down there?” she said as she worked as a radio announcer for the Knicks at Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday.
Sure enough, Swift was seated courtside for that game, alongside Este and Alana Haim. But McNutt, at the time, was unimpressed. “She’s not a Knicks fan,” she claimed. “Get out of here, girl.”
— Moonball (@moonball30) June 11, 2026
As it turned out, Swift has been a Knicks fan for years, having told Time in 2014 that she “always had this sort of love” for the team.
And by Thursday, McNutt was walking back her words. “Swifties, I appreciate your passion,” she said in a TMZ Sports interview. “I said what I said. And here’s the deal, if I’m wrong — I am wrong, apparently, because she’s got an OG Amar’e Stoudemire jersey. … I misspoke. I did not know, but here’s the deal. Context: I literally just did a piece on ‘Celebrity Row’ [at Madison Square Garden]. I’ve been with the organization for five years. I know these folks. Ben Stiller. His wife, Christine [Taylor]. Spike Lee. All of them. Fat Joe. I had not seen her here this year or last year. … I did not know of her Knicks loyalty.”
But McNutt acknowledged that there were pictures of Swift supporting the Knicks during Amar’e Stoudemire’s tenure on the team, which lasted from 2010 to 2015. “Shout out to her because that means she’s been in the trenches,” she said. “I had just not seen her. But I’m wrong. Do your thing, Taylor!”