A massive Taylor Swift banner that has hung from the walls of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif., for more than four years will now be covered up every time the L.A. Kings play a home game at the venue.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the NHL team is taking a word of advice from many fans who have a theory that Swift’s gigantic poster has caused the team nothing but bad luck during its home games.
The “cursed” banner was raised on Aug. 21, 2015, after Swift, 29, played her 16th sold-out show at the Staples Center. It was a record-breaking achievement.
The Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, however, since then have struggled to make a name for themselves.
After making the decision official, the supposed “eyesore” was covered up and the Kings beat the Nashville Predators 7-2 during their home opener on Saturday.
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“The connection to our fans is our highest priority and through our engagement they have made it clear that the banner shouldn’t be part of their Kings game experience,” Michael Altieri, senior vice president of marketing, communications and content for the Kings and AEG Sports, told the Times.
“We didn’t see an issue in covering it for our games and in fact see it as an opportunity to show our fans that we hear them.”
Staples Center president Lee Zeidman revealed that there were no plans to remove the banner from the venue, adding that the decision to cover it up was made solely by the Kings.
Unfortunately for the Kings, their good luck didn’t last long. After their win over the Predators, they were defeated by the visiting Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 a day later.
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After catching wind of the Kings’ unique superstitions, the Golden Knights’ Twitter was filled with lyrics and references to the Wildest Dreams singer during the game to poke fun at the team.
A number of Swifties who were upset by the initial banner fiasco took to Twitter to express their joy upon hearing about the Golden Knights’ prank and victory against the L.A. team.
Here’s what some fans had to say:
Vegas knocked the Kings out of the playoffs during the 2017-18 season.
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The defending champions didn’t even make the playoffs in 2014-15, months before the Staples Centre hung Swift’s banner.
Though the Kings made it to the 2015-16 playoffs, they didn’t last long. They missed the playoffs in both 2016-17 and 2018-19.
The Kings are currently near the bottom of the Pacific Division with only four points and have lost three of their five games.
L.A. is set to take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
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