Del Johnson observed from Cocoa Village, Florida, as confetti rained down on her son, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and his Philadelphia Eagles teammates following their victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX. Although she was not in New Orleans for the game, she had her own reason to celebrate—the opening of her second restaurant. However, her joy was short-lived as negative Yelp reviews began to flood in for her other establishment, Kings Grill in Rockledge, Florida.
The surge in unfavorable reviews coincided with Gardner-Johnson’s comments aimed at Chiefs star Travis Kelce, where he posted on Instagram, “Should’ve stayed with that thick s—,” seemingly referencing Kelce’s past relationship with Kayla Nicole, who was present at the Super Bowl and celebrated the Eagles’ win on the field.
Fans of Taylor Swift, often called “Swifties,” appeared to be behind the initial wave of negative reviews for Kings Grill. Swift has been a frequent presence at Chiefs games over the last two seasons and is currently dating Kelce. Delatron Johnson shared with TMZ Sports that friends sent her screenshots of the reviews, noting, “the Swifties have attacked.”
Despite the negative attention, she remarked, “the joke is really on the Swifties and everyone entertaining the reviews because Kings Grill is closed.” The unfavorable reviews were eventually removed, and Yelp issued an “unusual activity alert” on the restaurant’s page, temporarily disabling content posting.
Yelp explained that the increased public attention often leads to a surge in reviews that may not reflect genuine consumer experiences. A spokesperson stated that the User Operations team acted quickly to disable posting and would clean up the page to ensure it accurately represents firsthand consumer experiences once the activity subsides.
