“Chaos on Campus: Professor Sparks Outrage and Laughter After Abruptly Canceling Midterm, Claiming Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Alleged Secret Engagement Was ‘More Important Than Any Exam in History’”
“I can’t focus. You all can’t focus,” the professor told his students in the viral video
A college professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville went viral after filming a comedy skit reacting to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announcing their engagement.
Matthew Pittman, an associate professor in the College of Communication and Information at the university, racked up more than 215,000 likes on an acted out skit that he shared to his official Instagram account on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
In it, he addressed a classroom full of students, telling them that he was canceling a scheduled “biochem midterm” due to the exciting news.
“Due to this information, I can’t focus. You all can’t focus. Class is canceled. Get out of here,” he told his students, who reacted with glee. “Please [try] to process this information.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(560x0:562x2):format(webp)/professor-cancels-midterm-taylor-travis-engagement-082725-3-d8956cfbcea64360ad2f235db2f4d3e1.jpg)
Matthew Pittman’s viral video.Tombras School of AD & PR/Instagram
“No way!” one student could be heard exclaiming, as others began gasping and screaming in excitement.
Another student didn’t wait for the professor to finish; he threw on his backpack and sprinted to leave the classroom while throwing his fist in the air in pure celebration.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/professor-cancels-midterm-taylor-travis-engagement-082725-0bbb17a5adc4426cb11a2bf7c80853da.jpg)
Matthew Pittman, viral professor at the University of Tennesse Knoxville, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s engagement.UTK Social Media Class/Instagram; Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce
On Instagram, the video attracted the attention of Kelce’s New Heights podcast, with the social media account commenting, “W professor.”
A version of the comedy skit was shared on TikTok by an alleged student, where it amassed more than 1.7 million views in less than 24 hours.
The TikToker captioned the video, explaining that they “saw Taylor and Travis on the screen so I had to record.” However, they jokingly wrote that they weren’t “expecting this” from their professor.
On TikTok, many social media users praised the teacher, believing the video to be accurate.
One user wrote that “Getting out of a midterm is INSANE.” While another person chimed in saying that “this is the most appropriate reaction to the news.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(793x287:795x289):format(webp)/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-082625-52742cb9f9854e0099b87b2d4216ccc1.jpg)
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s engagement.Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce
Someone even played off Swift’s engagement announcement caption that read, “your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
They wrote: “When the gym teacher and English teacher got engaged and the science teacher is the biggest supporter!!!!”
However, a longer video shared by Pittman’s college on Instagram reiterated that the viral clip was faked to reflect on the breaking news.
“Associate Professor Matthew Pittman, who studies social influence, cognition, and all things social media, breaks down the engagement from an advertising and PR perspective,” the clip was captioned.
“Watch how he connects this pop culture moment to the classroom (yes, including a skit at the end 🎭).”
“I don’t know how anybody can be expected to focus on schoolwork or anything work or career-related right now,” Pittman said in the video, which saw him walking down a hallway at the university.
“It’s pretty big news. It’s going to take a few days to process this.”
Pittman described Swift and Kelce’s engagement post as “perfect,” hypothesizing that it would shortly become “the number one shared post in the history of social media.”
“It’s gonna be everywhere for a long time,” the professor said about the exciting news, drawing comparisons between the news and a royal wedding.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(556x0:558x2):format(webp)/professor-cancels-midterm-taylor-travis-engagement-082725-2-cdd13629d13246a49c0bbd3657056c8f.jpg)
Matthew Pittman’s viral video.UTK Social Media Class/Instagram
The “Fortnight” singer and Kansas City Chiefs player announced that they were engaged on Instagram on Aug. 26, sharing several photos from their floral-filled garden proposal.
The pictures showed Kelce getting down on one knee and the pair embracing each other after the proposal.
In the photos, Swift showed off her new engagement ring, which was designed by her football player beau with Kindred Lubeck of Artifex Fine Jewelry. The sparkler features an old mine brilliant cut diamond on a gold band.
